When All Hope Falls
by l3reeze
Summary: Sequel to In Your Dreams. Continues to follow Melissa as she tries to solve the mystery of the necklaces and the hope for rescue for the others. Includes swearing in earlier chapters as well as violence. Read at own risk!
1. A Plan

**Hey everybody I'm back with the sequel to In Your Dreams. So… everybody was probably really upset what I did. Melissa became sick and won't wake up and Jackson left thinking that it would be best. The fact that he thinks Melissa hates him for reading her note and looking at her private stuff. Melissa almost drowns and Jackson had to rescue her. Jackson and Nathan found out that Melissa was cutting her wrists and that she probably blacked out in the water. The truth started coming out in the last chapter and now it's time to find out what happens.**

**Disclaimer: I don't anything. Not the show, characters, songs, places or anything.**

**Theme Song- What Happens Tomorrow- Duran Duran**

**All is fair in love and war.**

This story starts off with Jackson. Jackson hiked through the jungle not knowing where to go or how he was going to survive. If anything Jackson truly wanted to just turn around and head back to camp. Jackson knew he couldn't. He had to continue. Melissa hated him and she almost died because of him. He just had to look at her private stuff. He didn't know what to do.

Jackson stopped to rest in a familiar area. He put his pack down and sat on a log. He took his water bottle out and was about to drink. Something made him stop. He got off his log and walked over to it. He stopped in front of it.

"Oh man," Jackson said.

**Flight29DWN****----- Theme Song**

_But nobody knows what's gonna happen tomorrow   
_**Lex Marin- Allen Alvarado**

_We try not to show how frightened we are   
_**Nathan McHugh- Corbin Bleu**

_If you let me - I'll protect you - however I can   
_**Daley Marin- Hallee Hirsh**

_You've got to believe it'll be alright in the end   
_**Eric McGorrill- Jeremy Kissner**

_You've got to believe it'll be alright again _

**Cody Jackson- Johnny Pacar**

_And nobody knows what's gonna happen tomorrow   
_**Taylor Hagan- Lauren Storm**

_So don't let go, now we've come this far   
_**Melissa Wu- Kristy Wu**

_Hold my hand please, understand me - we're never alone _

**Show Created-**

**Stan Rogow**

**D.J. MacHale**

_We've got to believe it'll be alright in the end   
(Nobody knows)   
You've got to believe it'll be alright my friend   
(Nobody knows) _

_And yes we believe it'll be alright again _

**Story by- Bree**

**Flight 29 Down**** When All Hope Falls**

**Flight29DWN---- End Theme Song**

Daley came out of the tent, carrying Melissa's journal. Nathan was just coming out of the jungle. He gave her a half nod. Daley walked over to him and through her arms around him. Nathan hugged her back. She pulled back with her arms still around his neck.

"I need to talk to you in private," Daley said. Nathan could see the worry in her eyes. He nodded his head. Daley released her arms from around him and grabbed his wrist. She pulled him toward the jungle.

After minutes of walking through the jungle they came to the cliff. She let go of his wrist and started pacing.

"Daley," Nathan said but she kept on pacing muttering to herself. Nathan said her name two more times. "Daley,"

"Yeah," Daley said turning to look at him with, her hand on her forehead.

"What happened?" Nathan asked. Daley could tell the seriousness in his voice. Daley handed Nathan the journal. "This is Melissa's. Why do you have it?"

"Read the last page," Daley told him, pointing at the book. Nathan sighed and opened up the book to the last page. Nathan looked down at it and began to read out loud.

"I don't know how worse I'm going to get…" Nathan stopped reading out loud and read in his head. When he finished he looked up. Daley went back to pacing.

"Nathan what are we gonna do?" Daley asked. "Jackson left some time last night or this morning. Melissa is in a coma and won't wake up," Daley said.

"Daley stop pacing and listen," Nathan told her putting his hand out to get her to stop. "We'll figure this out,"

"Nathan, she's cutting her wrists," Daley snapped. "And you're telling me to stay calm. She's the only person who seemed to get hurt the most on this trip. She almost drown… I just don't know how to deal with this Nathan. I'm the leader,"

"Sit down," Nathan said. He sat down and patted the grass beside him. Daley sat down and put her hand in her hair. "Listen, I would have never chosen you to be leader if I knew you wouldn't make a good one. Sure you're organized and stuff. I dunno…there's just something about you that made me want to convince you to be leader,"

"You didn't convince me Nathan," Daley told him. "I choose it myself. You just kind of gave me the idea,"

"I know, but…I trust you and I believe that you can lead this group of teenagers until we get rescued," Nathan said.

"Thanks Nathan but…I can't do what you said," Daley told him. "I'm sixteen years old…"

"That doesn't matter," Nathan cut her off. "What matters is what happens tomorrow," Daley sighed and looked down at the ground.

"I just wish there was a way to help Melissa," Daley said.

"There is but only time will tell," Nathan told her. Daley smiled at him before laying her head on his shoulder.

**Flight29------DWN**

Jackson walked over to it. The cave…the same cave Melissa had always been in. It brought back memories not happy, nor sad. He walked back over and picked up his pack. He headed into the cave. He put his pack down beside the cave wall and headed over to the spring. He gazed into the water. The necklaces were still there in the same spot where they left them last.

_This is what's been causing Melissa so much pain _Jackson thought. He reached down and took the blue necklace in his hand. _Sad that something so beautiful could cause so much damage. _Jackson put the necklace back in the water. He walked over to his bag and took a slip of paper out. He got on his back and unfolded the paper. It was the picture of him Melissa drew. He sighed then placed the picture on his chest as he starred at the cave ceiling. There were so many things flying through his mind. The most important thing was Melissa.

**Flight29------DWN**

Taylor came into the tent. Eric was sitting reading one of Taylor's magazines. Taylor gave him a smile.

"You know, these magazines are awesome," Eric said. "I learned out that I'm better off with Jason Dolley then Michael Musso," Taylor couldn't help but laugh. She sat down beside Eric.

"Do you think…we'll get rescued?" Taylor asked.

"This is me being serious," Eric said. He gave a small smile. "I don't know what to tell you. I'm not sure if were get rescued or not. But I'll promise that…if were still here and you need someone to talk to," Eric clapped his hands together. Taylor smiled and nodded.

"You're a great guy Eric," Taylor said. "When you take things seriously,"

"And you're a great person," Eric told her. "When you're not being cruel and dumb. No offence,"

"None taken," Taylor said. "I just wish there was a way that everybody would get a benefit from this." Taylor lowered her head onto Eric's shoulder. Eric starred at her from the corner of his eye.

"We all did get a benefit from this," Eric said. "We all learned a lesson in life. We all changed in a way. Good and bad. Now we got to live with those changes. Did I just say that?" They both started laughing.

"Thanks Eric," Taylor said.

"For what?" Eric asked.

"For making me laugh on this trip," Taylor said.

**Flight29------DWN**

Jackson woke up from his sleep. He looked around at his surroundings. He puts his hand to his face and rubbed his forehead. The paper slide off of him as he got up. He didn't seem to notice this through. He came up with the perfect idea that should work. He walked over to the spring and grabbed the two necklaces from the water. He slipped the blue one in his pockets. That's when he realized something. He took the blue necklace out and replaced it with the red necklace. He slipped the blue necklace around his neck. His plan was to hike back to camp and sneak into the camp. He left his pack in the cave since he would be coming back.

Jackson left the cave and headed back to the camp. He headed to camp with so many thoughts racing through his mind. He was sacrificing his health for Melissa. He didn't know why but he kept getting this feeling every time he thought about her. He came to the cliff are and was surprised to see Nathan and Daley there. They wouldn't be coming to camp for a while. Jackson continued back to camp.

He peeked through a bush to see if anybody was in the campsite. It was deserted. He crept toward the tent. He didn't hear any talking so that means that the coast was clear. He drew back the flap of the tent. Melissa was lying there in the same position that he last saw her in. He was about to go in when he heard a voice.

"Eric you better not stay on break to long. That water won't lug it's self," Lex yelled. Jackson turned to see Lex coming up from the beach right to him. Jackson ran behind the tent and into a bush.

"Hello," Lex yelled out. "Nathan, Daley," The boy shrugged and went into the tent. Jackson got up and brushed the dirt off his camouflage pants. Just then a hand came over his mouth and pulled him away from the tent.

**Ok I know this was a short chapter but I had readers chewing my ear off about the preview and how they thought it a was a chapter. I managed to finish this as fast as I could. The theme song was just for this chapter to introduce the characters and to make it a good start. Send me some more reviews please. I love them. I'll try to have the next chapter up this weekend. I would write some more of this but I have to sleep. Friday's tomorrow where I can type some more of this story and watch Hotel Tango Part 2 on family. Peace for now**


	2. Fun House of Memories Part1

**First chapter up and now reviews. How upsetting for me. Anyway I'm here to bring you some more of this wonderful story because I love you guys so much. Here is the wonderful story that I have started.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Not the show, songs, characters, objects except for the blue necklace. I do own that. And I'm wearing it all the time. I don't own any places where this story takes place. If I did own Flight 29 Down, there would be a spin off yep.**

The person finally took their hand off of Jackson's mouth. He turned around to see Taylor standing there.

"Did you just kidnap me?" Jackson asked.

"What are you doing here?" Taylor asked. She seemed to be excited and worried at the same time.

"Why do you care?" Jackson said coldly. Taylor put on a sad face.

"We all have been worried about you," Taylor told him, still a little sad. Jackson sighed.

"That's hard to believe," Jackson muttered.

"Why?" Taylor asked. "Because we don't understand what you have been through Jackson. All of us aren't so different from each other. Were all human and live and breathe the same air as each other. We may not have been through what you have been through but we have problems too. Were no as perfect as you think we are,"

"We may be spoiled rich kids but we have hearts and souls. We care about living creatures and others. There is a girl in that tent that cares about you more then ever. And if you walk away from her then you miles well are walking away from us. She has done everything for you since you came to Hartwell. She managed to get you on the adventure of a lifetime. She was always cared about you. She loves you Jackson more then ever and you don't seem to realize that. You're always talking all this bullshit and knowledge trying to make it look like you have all the answers. Where were you on this one? You didn't seem to have the knowledge to realize that you have somebody that cares about you so much and would do anything just to be with you. If I were Melissa I wouldn't give up. Because deep down inside I know you have a heart Jackson. I know you care about her deeply but you don't show it," Taylor was yelling at this point. Luckily she took him out far enough so no one could hear her yelling.

Jackson didn't know what to say at this point. He was so shocked at the way Taylor acted to him. She just totally said everything that no one could have said. No one had ever stood up to Jackson before. Taylor had really surprised him so much to shut him up.

"Before you going shooting your mouth off again at me," Jackson started. "Just to let you know that the reason I came back was for Melissa. I have an idea to get her to wake up but I didn't want anybody to know that. I almost did what I came here to do but Lex came and I almost got caught," Jackson said.

"What are you trying to do?" Taylor asked.

"I'm trying to put this on her," Jackson said and he held up the red necklace. Taylor stepped back a bit.

"Keep that devil thing away from me," Taylor said.

"Relax, it's not the one that's been hurting Melissa," Jackson told her. "I'm wearing the one that has been," Taylor looked a little pale after hearing this.

"I can help with that," Taylor muttered.

**Flight29------Down**

"Are you sure this will work?" Jackson asked. He and Taylor were ducking behind a bush.

"Give me a few minutes to make this work," Taylor told him. "But just in case I don't come back maybe we should…you know,"

"Taylor what can possibly happen to you on a deserted island?" Jackson asked.

"Right, I'm gonna go now," Taylor told him. Taylor ran over to the tent. She entered the tent.

"Hey Lex do you wanna play tag on the beach with me and Eric?" Taylor asked.

"Sure let me just get my hat," Lex told her. He went to reach for his hat but Taylor grabbed it and ran out of the tent. "Hey Taylor," Lex chased after her down to the beach.

Jackson came out from the bushes and ran to the tent. He opened the flap of the tent. He bent down beside Melissa. He took the necklace out of his pocket and put it around her neck. He starred down at Melissa for a few seconds. He got up and ran out of the tent.

After running through the jungle, he finally came to the cave. He ran inside and noticed the paper on the ground. He picked it up and folded it back up. He slipped it back in his pack. He put his sleeping bag on the ground and lied down in it. He soon dozed off.

**Flight29------Down**

_Jackson was lying on some hard ground. He got to his feet and shook his head then starred up. He was in some dark world or something. The ground was dry cracked dirt. There was smoke blowing everywhere faintly. He managed to see a giant object in the distance._

_"Hello," Jackson yelled. "Melissa," He got closer and found out what it was. It was a house. There was a small patch of grass in front of the house with a nice pathway leading up to the house. There was a tree on the lawn with a tire swing hanging from it. The leaves were falling from the tree but seemed to disappear as soon as they hit the grass. He looked at the house number. It had the number twenty-nine on it. He walked up the pathway to the door and knocked._

_He opened it and stepped in the house. He shut the door behind him and looked around. The room had a small hallway with a set of stairs beside it. There was a couch and chair complete with a coffee table and T.V. _

_"Melissa," Jackson yelled. There was no answer at except for one sound. It sounded like water rushing through pipes. Jackson crossed the room towards the stairs. He climbed the stairs slowly. The sound got louder as he got closer to the landing. There was a room to the left of the stairs once you came up. The sound seemed to be coming from that room. He stood in the doorway. It was a bathroom. The tap to the sink was running. He looked down at the tiled floor. There was blood smudges all over the floor. It was like some body was dripping with blood and the rubbed it all over the floor with there feet. He walked across the room to turn the tap off. He turned to look at the bathtub afraid of what he might see._

_The bathtub was full with water. It was red. Jackson kept asking himself what happened here. He turned to leave this disgusting room. He closed the door behind him. There were still two rooms on the top level. He walked over to the one room. He twisted the knob but the door wouldn't open. He knew it wasn't worth opening so he went to the other door. He went to open the door but he heard a band from downstairs. He ran down the stairs. He slowly crept through the hallway to the back door. He opened it and walked out side. His eyes grew wide when he say what was in front of him._

_A giant mansion was in the distance. He never noticed it before. This was some sick twisted dream he was having. He knew Melissa had to be here since he put the necklace on her. There was another bang from inside the house behind him. He walked inside the door way and turned to the room to his left. _

_It was a kitchen. The walls were yellow. There was a mirror on one of the walls. This was weird to be in a kitchen. In the middle of the floor was a cracked cookie jar. But it wasn't cookies that were on the ground. He crossed the room and sat on his legs as he bent down to observe the broken jar. It was a shred of a straw hat. The smell from the shreds of the hat smelt atrocious. It had some blood on it. He noticed a purple fabric on some of the pieces of straw. That's when he realized what it was. It was pieces of Eric's hat he always wears. He stood up and covered his mouth. He happened to be standing right in front of the mirror at the time he stood up to see this. _

_There was a figure that had been watching him the whole time in the kitchen. He couldn't tell if it was a male or female from the way it looked. It was pale and had black long ratted hair. It was wearing a white torn dress with blood marks all over it. The figure looked like the Grudge or the Ring. Just looking at the reflection of the figure sent chills up his spin. He hoped that the figure would walk away soon. He closed his eyes. He opened his eyes to see the figure was no longer in the doorway. Jackson's heart was beating fast right now. There was no longer a broken jar or hat shreds on the floor. _

_Jackson wasn't sure if he should leave the room. He didn't know what the hell that thing was or what it wanted with him. He wasn't sure what it would do to him. More important where was Melissa? If he was with another person in this situation then he wouldn't have this problem. Jackson couldn't move and was as stiff as a board. He finally stiffened up and was able to move forward. He stood in the door way. The door in front of him was open._

_It wasn't open before and he knew where it went. To went to the basement. The most obvious place for Melissa to be or that thing. He had to find Melissa and fast. He walked out into the main room. He walked up the stairs again. The bathroom door was once again open. He walked by it and peeked in. The same figure was standing in the bathroom with its back to Jackson. It was doing something weird. He noticed blood dripping from the thing's body. He didn't even want to guess what it was doing. He continued to that room he was going to a few minutes ago. He opened the door and walked in. There was a cloth on the floor and other random objects that included a lamp, a pot, notebook and pen. Somebody was living in here. He walked over to the notebook and picked it up. He opened it up and flipped through the pages. They were all really skilled sketches of some guy. Jackson soon realized that the boy was him. They were Melissa's. He closed the book and walked out of the room. He walked past the bathroom and looked in. The figure was gone. Jackson' heart started to beat faster._

_He came down the stairs and turned the corner to the living room. It was like a bombshell went off. There was a beautiful Asian girl sitting in the corner. Her eyes were filled with tears._

_"Melissa," Jackson said._

_"Jackson look out behind you," Melissa told him. Jackson turned around only to be stabbed in the neck with a needle._

**Flight29------Down**

After a long chase on the beach Taylor finally decided to give in. She stopped and handed him his hat back.

"Are you happy? I chased you like a maniac," Lex said. Taylor started laugh. Lex continued panting. She starred at Lex who looked kind of worried.

"What's wrong?" Taylor asked.

"Daley and Nathan have been in the jungle for a long time," Lex pointed out.

"Let's go look for them," Taylor suggested.

"Let me just go check on Melissa," Lex said and ran over to the tent. He came in and bent down beside the lifeless girl. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. He suddenly felt her squeeze it back.

"Taylor," Lex yelled. Taylor came in the tent really fast.

"What happened?" Taylor asked.

"She squeezed back," Lex said. A grin suddenly fell on her face. _Jackson did it. He managed to get to her. Let's only they both can get back safely _Taylor thought.

Melissa started to groan and moan. Her chest started pumping up down. She was breathing really fast. She started getting hot and sweaty. Lex let go of her hand.

"Ow," Lex said.

"What?" Taylor asked.

"She's burning up," Lex explained. "You go get Daley and Nathan. They might be at the cliff or the coconut tree," Taylor nodded and dashed out of the tent. Lex glanced at her neck and noticed the necklace. _I thought Melissa and Jackson returned this necklace_ Lex thought. Lex put two and two together and said one simple name. _Jackson_

**Flight29------Down**

"Nathan," Taylor yelled as she ran through the jungle. "Daley," She decided to take Lex's advice and check the cliff. She ran in on Nathan and Daley like a maniac yelling. The both got away from each other and stood up.

"What is it Taylor?" Daley asked.

"Melissa is moving," Taylor told them. They ran past her and into the jungle. Taylor made a confused face then chased after them.

Taylor got back to the tent and saw Nathan, Daley, Lex and Eric sitting in there beside Melissa. Lex had one hand and Nathan had the other. They were all grinning like fools. Taylor looked down at Melissa.

**Flight29------Down**

_Jackson finally woke up in the dream. He looked up and saw he was in some rotting basement. He's arms were chained to a dirt wall. Melissa was sitting on the ground with her head in her knees. She two was chained but her one leg was chained._

_"Melissa," Jackson said. Melissa looked up when she heard her voice. Her eyes were full of tears still. She got up and tried to hug Jackson but she found she couldn't go any further. "What is this place?"_

_"I've been here since I almost drown. This place is this weird place that I created. That's what the Melanie said," Melissa said._

_ "Wait, who is Melanie?" Jackson asked._

_"Melanie is the girl that lives here. The one that brought us down here," Melissa explained._

_"That weird horror creature lives here? I don't understand. What is the purpose of this place?" Jackson said._

_"There is a purpose of this place. Were supposed to remember something or figure something out. Remember what you said in the other dream. Maybe if we figure out what happened here then we can get out of here. If we try and take the necklace off it just alerts Melanie and she comes down here," Melissa explained._

_"We can think of a plan as soon as get out of these chains," Jackson said._

_"I wouldn't even think that if I were you," a scratchy voice said. Jackson and Melissa looked over the source the voice. Melanie was standing there with a whip in her bloody hands. Blood was all the way up her wrist and on her hands. "I brought you a little welcome present Jackson," She held up the whip with both hands._

_"How do you know my name?" Jackson asked._

_"That fucking slut over there never shuts up about you. She draws little pictures of you in her stupid book all day. She keeps muttering on about how you'll come and rescue her. Are you happy? Your lover came to save you and look what happened. You're gonna get him killed. You happy hoe?" Melanie snapped._

_"Shut the fuck up," Jackson snapped. "Don't talk to her that way," Melissa starred at Jackson with tears in her eyes._

_"Looks like Jackson is anxious," Melanie said. She gave a little laugh then walked over to Jackson. She reached down to her leg and pulled some skin off of her leg. Melissa and Jackson nearly threw up. Melanie pulled a key out of leg that was cover in blood. She put the piece of skin back in its place. She walked beside Jackson and put the key in the locks and unlocked them. Jackson tried to tackle Melanie but Melanie was to strong for him and pushed him against the wall. She turned him around so he was face the wall then chained him back up. She ripped off his shirt and threw it on the ground. She turned to look at Melissa._

_She flashed a big grin at Melissa. Melanie suddenly pulled the whip back and sent it slapping across Jackson's back. He grunted in pain. Melissa screamed really loud._

**Flight29------Down**

Melissa screamed then went back to sleep. The others starred at her horrified.

"What the hell is going on with her?" Eric asked.

"I'm scared," Taylor said then stuck to Eric like a leech. Daley had tears running down her eyes as she gripped one of Nathan's hands.

**Flight29------Down**

_After three whips Melanie stopped. Melissa was covered in tears rushing down her face. Jackson was on the ground. Melanie turned to Melissa and pointed the bloody whip at her._

_"It will be your turn tomorrow," Melanie said. She unlocked Melissa's chains and grabbed her by the wrist. She pulled with her up the basement stairs._

_"Jackson," Melissa screamed._

_"You'll see him in a minute," Melanie told Melissa. Melanie put Melissa in the one room Melissa was being a prisoner in. Melanie threw Melissa onto the floor then left the room. She came back with a bowl of water and a small dirty red bag with a white cross on it. She put the stuff down beside Melissa. Melissa starred at it before answering._

_"What's that for?" Melissa asked._

_"Your gonna patch Jackson up. Don't think of doing any funny business while I'm gone," Melanie said. She left the room. Melissa looked up at the empty door way. Melissa went out into the hallway. She headed toward the bathroom and saw the knife sitting beside the tap in a soap dish. She walked over to it and grabbed the knife. She left the room and headed back to the room. She slipped the knife into her pocket and sat back down. Melanie came in room and dropped Jackson on the ground in front of Melissa. He hit the ground like a rock and stayed like that. Melanie left the room. She closed and locked the door behind her._

_Melissa grabbed Jackson's body and rested his head on her lap. She had tears in her eyes. There was a cut right beside his eye._

_"Jackson," Melissa said through cries. _

_"Melissa," Jackson said. He put his hand on her face. She couldn't help but smile at him._

_"I'm gonna take care of you," Melissa told him. He smiled at her. She smiled back at him. He sat up and gave her a hug. She put her hands on his shoulders so she wouldn't touch his cuts._

**So there is the story. I know your all thinking what the hell is going on. Well I actually I thought this chapter up last night and decided to change the storyline a bit. Ok maybe a lot. This dream has a importance with the storyline and the necklaces. It was completely freaking scary typing this out because I typed this out at night in a room all alone and it scared the heck out of me. Sorry for the swearing and stuff. If your confused don't worry it will be explained in later chapters. Read a review I love reviews whether it's good or bad. I prefer good through. I try and have another chapter up by tomorrow so don't worry. I'll try not to leave you hanging. Sorry for the shortness but I'm going to make this into parts. That's all folks.**


	3. Fun House of Memories Part2

**I had to start this all over again because my whole chapter that was finished was deleted or it wouldn't open so I got really pissed and swore and yelled in my basement. It was really good and now it will probably suck so please don't send me hate reviews like some people do. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own this show, songs, places, characters, or props except the necklace.**

**All is fair in love and war.**

_Jackson sat in front of Melissa with his shirt off. His back was to her. She gasped at the sight of his back. She felt the need to cry but she kept strong._

_"How bad is it?" Jackson asked._

_"Pretty bad," Melissa told him. He put the wet cloth on his one gauche. He groaned and moved a bit from the pain. "Sorry. You know it was pretty brave what you did back there,"_

_"I did it because I was worried about you," Jackson told her. Melissa blushed and continued to clean his cuts. He would groan the odd time. "I felt bad about the whole diary and letter thing. You're always so caring and kind to everybody. It was time to somebody did something for you. And I was missing your smile," Melissa smiled._

_"So that's why you came here?" Melissa asked._

_"Yeah," Jackson said. "What is this place?"_

_"It's called the House of Memories," Melissa started to explain. "Melanie told me that when I first came here. She explained to me everything and locked me in here after," _

_"What does the necklace have to do with this?" Jackson asked through his teeth from the groaning._

_"This is just what she told me," Melissa said. "The blue necklace works as a veil of recovery. The red necklace works as a veil of memories. The red necklace allows you to go to a place in your dream that you're at in real life. The blue one brings you to your memory chamber. It's where your memories are kept and your alternate ego. Melanie is my alternate ego and the part of me I was never able to show. Of course she can also be more evil then Taylor. Imagine if Melanie was my personality. I would be even more mean then Taylor," _

_"Taylor helped me to get here," Jackson said defending Taylor._

_"Sorry. The necklaces were created on the island. That's all she told me. Then I woke up in here after she stabbed me with a needle," Melissa said. _

_"Wait how can you sleep in a dream?" Jackson asked._

_"I never really asked her. I think it's the needles," Melissa told him._

_"I was always afraid of needles when I was a kid," Jackson told her. "I've never told that to any one else before," He turned to look at her. They both starred at each other but you could tell Melissa was trying to avoid his eyes. He started to lean in to her. Melissa knew what he was gonna do. Then they heard a loud painful scream. They both turned to look at the door._

_"She's torturing herself again," Melissa stated._

_"Why does she do that?" Jackson asked._

_"You know I never meant to do those things? The wrist cutting and drowning," Melissa told him. "She made me do it,"_

_"It's ok Mel," Jackson said. "I was worried about you,"_

_"I finished cleaning your…you know?" Melissa said._

_"Thanks," Jackson said then put his ripped shirt back on. Melissa pulled the tweezers out of the little bag and held them up in front of her face. "What are those?" _

_"You'll see," Melissa told him. Jackson was confused and clearly wasn't thinking what Melissa was thinking. She went through her hair and pulled out a bobby pin. She crossed the room to the door. She slipped the tweezers and bobby pin into the key hole. Jackson knew exactly what she was doing now. Melissa continued moving both objects around trying to find the click. Melissa turned to look at Jackson._

_"Get the knife out of my but pocket," Melissa told him then went back to picking the lock. Jackson crossed over to her and bent down so he was sitting on the heels of his feet. He reached inside her pocket and pulled out the knife. There was a click noise. Melissa got up and turned to face Jackson. He raised one eyebrow at her. The door came open and they both turned to face the hallway. _

_Melissa took a few steps into the hallway when she felt someone grab her arm. Jackson walked beside her. He moved his hand down her bare skin arm to her hand. She felt his hand lock with hers. He moved toward the bathroom door. He peeked around the corner. There was nobody in the bathroom. They walked past the bathroom toward the top of the stairs. They both made their way down the stairs slowly. They stopped at the bottom and Jackson peeked around the corner toward living room._

_He and Melissa made their way to the door. He opened it and looked outside. Melissa looked behind her. Down the hallway in front of the back door was Melanie. She had a huge grin on her face. Melissa tapped Jackson's arm lightly. He turned to look at what she was looking at. As soon as he saw Melanie he dashed outside with Melissa. Melissa looked back to see Melanie chasing after them, but slowly. She was walking. Melissa didn't understand it._

_They both disappeared into the deep fog. They kept running and Melissa would look back the odd time. She couldn't see anybody or anything moving except the fog. She looked to see whose hand she was holding. She smiled when she saw Jackson. Suddenly a bolt of lightning hit right in front of them. This sent them falling back. Melissa felt the strap of the necklace digging into her neck. She got up and ran into the fog._

_"Melissa," Jackson yelled. Melissa could still hear Jackson's yells that soon turned into nothing. Melissa kept running until she felt tired. She stopped and started panting. She looked at the red heart necklace dangling out of her shirt. Pain shot through her whole body. Jackson had the most dangerous necklace. Tears started to roll down her face. Rain started to fall and mix with the dry ground. She fell to her knees in the mud. She just sat there crying._

_"Melissa," Jackson yelled. He didn't know why she reacted the way she did. Where could she have gone? He knew he would never find her in the rain._

_"Jackson," Melissa yelled. Jackson smiled. He walked in the direction of her voice. She was standing in the rain with her same pink dress on. He ran up to her and hugged her. "I'm scared Jackson," Pain shot through Jackson's neck as released from his hug with her. He looked at the needle in his neck. He looked up to see Melanie grinning at him Jackson fell to his knees and blacked out._

_Melissa opened her eyes. It had stopped raining and the ground went back to its dry cracked self. She got up and felt her head. Her hair was all crimpy from the rain. It was dry through. The climate had changed all of a sudden. It was no longer a dark world anymore but instead a light world. The sky was grey and the fog added to the effect. It was starting to get cold._

_"Jackson," Melissa yelled as she looked around. She heard something running around in the fog. She saw a figure running through the fog but couldn't make out who it was. Her heart started to beat faster and faster. She started heavy breathing. She felt like she was about to faint until she heard a voice. It was a beautiful voice that she could recognize from any where. It was her mom's voice. It was a familiar song too. It was the song her mother used to sing her to put her to sleep._

**You lie there,  
Still,  
Peacefully breathing,  
With the drip's dull beat,  
Of a medicated sleep,**

Sleep now my blossom,   
Sleep now my rose,  
Sleep in Peace,  
Till the sleep never goes...

You lie there still,  
Perfectly still,  
With the monitors clear resonance,  
And the silent beat,  
That is natures fair sleep,

Sleep now my blossom,  
Sleep now my rose,  
Sleep in Peace,  
With the sleep that never goes...

_Melissa felt like she was about to fall asleep. She felt in a trance. A trance where she could imagine the happiest things in the world. A set of pale white hands went around Melissa's neck. They went down to the red necklace. Melanie gripped the heart in her hand and started speaking in some different language. The heart started to glow red and wind started blowing toward her and Melissa. She was sucking Melissa's soul and trying to take it fro herself._

_Jackson woke up from the dry ground. He looked __around and muttered a name faintly._

_"Melissa," He looked around and realized what happened. He made his way through the fog. He felt a giant gust of wind blowing at him. He believed that Melissa was still alive. He made his way through the gust of wind forcing his way through it. It was like trying to swim up a currant. He could see two figures up in the distance. He started picking up his pace. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sharp pointy object. The knife. He looked down at it in his palm. He started toward the two girls. The knife in one hand his hand formed into a fist in the other. He shoved the knife into Melanie's neck. _

_She let go of Melissa and turned to look at him gripping the knife in pain. She let out a high pitched scream. Jackson rushed over to Melissa. He stood in front of her._

_"Melissa," Jackson said. He wrapped his arms around Melissa and held her close. Melanie burst into a bunch of rainbow crystals. "I love you," Melissa suddenly snapped out of the weird trance she was in. She looked at Jackson. There was a crack sound. The both turned to look behind Melissa. The ground started to crack. It headed to the House of Memories and split it in half._

_"The necklaces Jackson," Melissa said. He let go of her and removed the necklace from around his neck. She took hers off. They both left that world._

**Flight29------Down**

Jackson got up off the ground. He ran his hands through his hair. He didn't remember what happened. He just remembered coming in here and falling asleep. He looked on the ground where a white slip of paper was. He picked it up and looked at it. It was the picture of him Melissa drew. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a pencil and paper and began to write.

Jackson was packed up and ready to go back to camp. He stepped out of the cave and into the fresh air. He started walking back to camp.

_Don't lose your way  
With each passing day  
You've come so far  
Don't throw it away  
Live believing  
Dreams are for weaving  
Wonders are waiting to start  
Live your story  
Faith, hope & glory   
Hold to the truth in your heart_

If we hold on together  
I know our dreams will never die  
Dreams see us through to forever   
Where clouds roll by  
For you and I

Melissa started stirring in her sleeping bag. Lex looked up from his book. She continued to stir as Lex's eyes grew big.

"Jackson," was all that escaped Melissa's mouth. Lex got up and ran out of the tent.

"Melissa's awake guys," Lex yelled to the others who were at the fire pit. Excitement filled their faces as the rushed past Lex into the tent. He stood there then finally went into the tent.

_Souls in the wind  
Must learn how to bend  
Seek out a star  
Hold on to the end  
Valley, mountain  
There is a fountain  
Washes our tears all away  
Words are swaying  
Someone is praying   
Please let us come home to stay_

If we hold on together  
I know our dreams will never die  
Dreams see us through to forever   
Where clouds roll by  
For you and I

Jackson walked past a familiar hole in the ground where Eric would complain. Eric wasn't there through which was surprising. He continued to walk to camp thinking about the others. Daley would probably be her bossy leader self. Nathan would try and be second course and try to prove he isn't useless. Lex would be his smart genius self and try to figure out ways to help us. Eric would complain about lugging water and other problems. Taylor being… not useless after the way she acted around Jackson. Then there was Melissa…his best friend. He wanted to see her so bad. Maybe what Taylor said was right. He knew thinking about the others would be dumb so he kept walking.

_When we are out there in the dark  
We'll dream about the sun  
In the dark we'll feel the light  
Warm our hearts, everyone_

Everybody was talking really fast and all together to Melissa. She couldn't breath with them like this. Lex was standing looking down at Melissa. He gave her a smile to say how sorry he felt for here. She returned the smile.

"Where's Jackson?" Melissa shouted. Everybody stopped and starred at her. She got up and ran out of the tent. The others starred at Lex. He just shrugged.

Melissa stopped outside the tent. She was a little surprised to see that the plane was back and in the campsite. What had happened since she was in a coma? A lot has changed. But was most upsetting was not seeing Jackson in the campsite.

"Melissa," a voice said. She turned to see Jackson standing there in front of the jungle with a big goofy grin on his face. He threw his pack to the floor. She ran up to him and threw her arms around hi neck. He wrapped his arms around her back. The others piled out of the tent and spotted the two hugging. Lex just smiled as Daley held him close to her.

_If we hold on together  
I know our dreams will never die  
Dreams see us through to forever  
As high as souls can fly  
The clouds roll by  
For you and I_

**Flight29------Down**

Melissa and Jackson decided to go for a walk later. Jackson brought her to a familiar area. The entered the cave and stopped in front of the pool of water. They both dropped the necklaces into the water and smiled. The left the cave and Jackson stopped Melissa.

"I got something for you," Jackson said. He pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her. "I'm no artist but this is a present for you as a thanks for the picture you drew," Melissa unfolded the paper and started to read it.

_As I relax in the night,  
My mind wanders afar.  
I long for your presence,  
As I gaze at the stars._

As I feel near my lowest,  
Caught up in despair,  
. . . stop . . . reminded . . .  
The sound of your voice  
And the feel of your hair!

I smile at the sky,  
Enjoy the moon's glare.  
My mind set at ease,  
As I think of you there.

When she finished reading it she smiled up at him. She wrapped her arms around him in a warm embrace. When they both released Jackson spoke.

"The poem is called 'Melissa'. I wrote it myself for you," Jackson said. They both laughed then took each others hands and walked away from the cave.

A lot had changed when Melissa and Jackson weren't there. As the two walked away from the cave they never knew what adventure they would have tomorrow. All they should do is dream away and hope that tomorrow would be filled with excitement. Since it is never a dull day at Club 29 Down.

**I know what you all are thinking. Is it over? Well no it's not over. That was just the beginning over the Melissa and Jackson adventure. I'm not gonna leave you with unanswered questions like the movie did. Everything will fall into to place around the ending so be happy. This chapter would have been more scary if my computer didn't screw my file over. As for the memory thing with Melson. They both forgot what happened in the dream and the whipping thing and slitting of the wrists didn't happen because it was all erased. Now for the credits for this chapter.**

**The song that Melanie sang is a song somebody made up which I got off the internet and it is called Sleep and it is by Andrew Rose.**

**The song that played around the end is called If We Hold On Together by Diana Ross. I made a video on youtube with this song so some people might recognize it. (It's a Flight 29 Down slideshow video if that helps)**

**The poem that Jackson gave to Melissa is called Melissa and it is by some person called Gabe.**

**That is the credits for this chapter so please read and review. Reviews are good so send some. Peace till next chapter.**


	4. The First Flash is the Deepest

**I'm so sorry for all the many people that have read this story. I know I said I would continue it and I said that many years ago. I forgot about it for a while but I'm going to finish this story for those fans of it. You may notice a change in writing because I'm 17 years old now and I started the story when I was 14 years old. I have had this idea in my head since then and I had been thinking about if off and on. And recently I got some messages from fans of the story wanting to know what happens. Well here you go. Once again sorry but I hope you enjoy. :)**

_The stars never die away_

_The moon never sleeps_

_Even while many of us are_

_Living through our dreams_

_They say that are dreams are just our subconscious minds at work while we are asleep. Others say that the things that happen to us before our slumber affect our dream world. If this is true, then why is it that when we dream sometimes, we are able to control some or every action of our subconscious character? Why is it we are able to change the order of our dreams? These and many questions can only be put into two words: Lucid Dreams. _

_A __**lucid dream**__ is a dream in which the sleeper is aware that he is dreaming. A lucid dreamer can actively participate in and manipulate imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can seem extremely real and vivid, depending on a person's level of self-awareness during the lucid dream. - Wikipedia_

_Now I lay me down to sleep_

_I pray the lord my soul to keep_

_And if I die before I wake_

_I pray the lord my soul to take_

The smell of the ocean air filled my nostrils as I rolled over in my sleeping bag. The heat of my sleeping bag was making me sweat like a pig roasting over a fire. The thought of pig at this time of the night gave me sickening feeling. What is the time anyway?

I reached around for my backpack and found it in the corner of the tent. I unzipped the zipper on the small pocket in the front and pulled out my digital watch. 3:15 was the time. Why am I up at this early in the morning? That was a good question. Wasn't it the strong stench of the ocean air? Or was it the sound of Daley's snoring? The last thing I remember before I woke up was the sound of Lex chanting a pray you say before you sleep. Or was that what he said last night before he went to sleep? This was too much thinking for me this early in the morning.

I pulled out of my oven of a sleeping bag and crawled across it to the flap of the tent. I unzipped it slowly, trying not to wake Taylor and Daley. I reached over and grabbed a flashlight from beside Daley's backpack and climbed out into the ocean air.

I felt the sand between my toes as I walked out towards the cooler. I opened it and removed a bottle of water from it. I took a sip of the water and felt the nice cool liquid rush down my dry throat like a waterfall. It was rather refreshing considering my throat has been very dry lately for some reason. Daley thinks it may be some side effects from my coma a week ago, but I doubt it. I was getting ready to turn around and head back to the tent when I heard a sound.

I looked towards the jungle trees as the sound came from that direction. The trees shook slowly in the wind. I knew that the wind wasn't what caused the noise though. When the trees stopped shaking, I could see a few trees moving as if some one was walking through them. I turned my flashlight on and walked slowly towards the jungle. Why was I doing this you ask? Well I assumed that it was just somebody from the camp using the latrine. Besides it was safer to check to see if somebody was sneaking up on the camp. I mean they could be harmful.

My flashlight illuminated against the trees, but I couldn't make out anybody. The trees still moved as if somebody was casually strolling through them. Whoever it was, kept walking past the clearing into the camp. This gave me the conclusion that the person wasn't from the camp. I felt my whole body go cold at the thought of an unknown person walking into our camp. What if the person came in here to kill us? Everybody but me is asleep and I don't really think I can fight off this person on my own. What if there is more then one? I don't even want to think of that.

Of course, it could always be Abby and the others coming back to the camp. I like that thought better. Then again, why would they be coming back late at night? Oh darn, here I go again thinking negative thoughts. Whatever is out there in that jungle is still here and standing here acting stupid isn't going make things better. Maybe I can scare away whatever it is.

I walked towards the fire pit and picked up a hunting knife. I started walking slowly towards the jungle, flashlight in one hand, knife in the other. Although I was armed, I couldn't help but shake in fear. You think I would not do what most horror movie victims do and walk towards the problem or in this case the unknown person in the jungle who could possibly be dangerous and be more armed then me. I moved closer and closer to the area where the thing stopped. My heart continued to race at an uneasy pace, the wind shook the trees as my body got a feeling of a numb sensation. I felt kind of faint as a stepped closer and closer to my destination. Why am I still walking towards a fate that could possibly be death? I was waiting for my flashlight to illuminate a face in the foliage of the jungle.

"There's nothing there," came the sound of a deep male voice. Now at first I was rather startled and did in fact jump. Well mostly because I thought the voice came from the unknown person lurking in the trees. Then I collected what the person said and realized it came from somebody at the camp. Was I correct? Well yes but I had to look around a bit to see where the voice came from.

Jackson was sitting in one of the airplane chairs we had salvaged from the airplane upon moving it up to the camp from the beach. He was carving a stick with a hunting knife, most likely to make into a spear. I turned my flashlight off as I realized it was unnecessary to have right now.

"Pardon," I asked politely to him. His eyes didn't look up at me and continued to focus on the stick. I figured that it was because he didn't want to accidently cut himself. I guess it doesn't really matter though because he's sitting in the dark using the knife anyway. If he doesn't cut himself from not paying attention then sitting in the dark will do it. But I suppose he is skilled at using a knife because I have never known him to injure himself or others with a knife.

"There is nobody hiding in the trees at the moment,"

"Strong wind then,"

"No, you're just hallucinating," he said, making it seem as if it was a normal thing. Then it dawned on me, how did he know I was hallucinating? Then, without me saying a word and some how knowing what I was thinking he replied to my thought. "You do this a lot now. It's been common for the past week. You don't remember it the next day. We all noticed the first couple nights that you would wake up the next day with dirt on the bottom of your feet and leaves and twigs in your hair. At first we were confused, but we decided to ignore it,"

"Why did you not ask me about it?" I asked, taking a seat in a near by airplane chair.

"Eric asked you the first morning after it happened. You sort of freaked out on him and told him you don't remember anything that happened that night. We all just decided not to ask you again. We didn't want you to freak out on us and figured you would give us the same answer. So we just ignored it, then it stopped for two nights. We thought it may have just been a phase you went through and were glad you were back to normal,"

He stopped talking, but continued to carve the stick. There was a short silence then he stabbed the stick into the ground and slid the knife back into its small pouch. He then leaned forward in his chair, clasping his hands together and looked up at me. His blue eyes met mine with a sad stare of worry and pain.

"What happened after that?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"On the third night…" He paused and starred at me for a few seconds before continuing. "…we heard you scream this horrifying scream in the night and checked to see if you were okay. Only you weren't in the tent. We found you in the jungle the next day after searching the whole night for you. After that one night, we all decided that one person will stay up and keep watch during the night to make sure you don't just get up and walk off," He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes.

"Where did you guys find me exactly?"

"We found you at the bottom of a cliff,"

"Do you remember where it is?"

"Where the cliff is? I believe I do. Why?"

"Because I want you to take me there tomorrow,"

Yes I was curious. Who wouldn't be if someone told them what Jackson just told me. I mean what he just told me was the strangest thing ever. I have never been known to sleep walk before. So the fact that I have been for the last week or two is kind of a surprise to me.

"I don't know Mel. There must be some reason you were at that cliff. I don't want you to go there and have something dangerous happen," And here is Jackson being the big protective friend.

"Come on Jackson. I was sleepwalking clearly. I probably just happened to sleep walk so far out into the jungle and came to that cliff. I doubt there is anything wrong with that cliff. It is just a cliff Jackson," I was hoping I would be able to convince him.

"If you think it's just a cliff, why do you want to visit it so badly?"

"Simply because I want to see how far out it is," Yeah it was a stupid reason to want to go see some cliff. I honestly didn't have a reason for wanting to go see the cliff or at least a reason I could tell Jackson. If I told him, he would say no.

"No offence but that is a stupid reason. Either way, I will take you to the cliff tomorrow," I smiled at him in the dark but he may have not seen it. He looked at his watch and then past me towards the horizon on the water. "I think you should try and go back to sleep. And don't worry; nothing is going to harm you. I'll make sure of that,"

I put the knife down beside the chair and then got up. I started walking towards the tent when I realized something. I turned around to Jackson who was starting to carve his stick again.

"Am I going to remember any of this tomorrow?" He sat there in silence, thinking I assume. I figured that he was thinking of some sly comment to make.

"I guess we will find out tomorrow. If you do then we are making some serious progress here,"

He smiled at me in the dark before saying goodnight. I went into the tent and dropped the flashlight beside the backpack. I crawled back into my sleeping bag which was cold now. The moment my head hit the pillow I was out like a light as the darkness over took me.

The next day, everybody sat around the fire for breakfast. While Taylor and Eric seemed to be in a heated conversation or more of Taylor talking and Eric listening while staring at her stupidly, Lex and Daley were discussing plans to build a better shelter and the possible materials they would need to build it. Nathan was sitting with Melissa and talking to her quietly. Jackson was asleep as he was up most of the night keeping watch.

"Are you okay Mel? Do you want anything to eat? We have fruit here and we will have fish at lunch time," Nathan said rather rushed.

"Nathan, I'm fine. Don't worry; you don't have to baby me. I can take care of myself you know," Nathan sighed and began to peel a banana.

"I know Mel, It's just we are all really worried about you. The others might not say it but I will because I want to look out for my best friend when she needs me. And you do need me,"

"I appreciate you helping me, but I really need to be dependent on myself if I want to get my strength back. Besides I don't want to get in anybody's way,"

"Trust me Mel, we honestly don't mind helping you out and you don't get in anybody's way. Maybe you should go lay down some more," Nathan gave Melissa a sincere smile and Melissa smiled back.

Eric and Taylor left, saying something about finding firewood and collecting water, while Daley went to go use the latrine, and Lex to sketch out designs for a shelter. Jackson came out of the boy's tent yawning in his camouflage cargo pants and black tee shirt. Melissa walked past him to the girl's tent. He reached out and grabbed her arm lightly and looked down at her face.

"You feeling better?" he asked kindly. Melissa looked up at him and smiled.

"Yeah, I'm feeling better. Nathan suggested I go rest some more so I figured I might do just that,"

"Alright, well if you need anything, just come and find me. Okay?" Melissa nodded at him. He released the light grip on her arm and she went into the tent. Jackson walked towards the fire pit and sat down on a log that was placed there. Nathan handed him some fruit which he took and smiled as a thank you. Nathan looked back at the girl's tent before turning back to Jackson to speak.

"I thought you might want to know that Melissa isn't eating. I offered her fruit earlier and she denied it saying she was fine. She's not fine Jackson, she keeps telling us that but we all know it isn't true," Nathan told him in an angry tone. Jackson took a bite of his mango and swallowed it before speaking.

"I'm aware of your worry Nathan. I feel as much worry as you do for Melissa. She just needs some time to sort things out and come to realization that it's all in her head,"

"But what if it's not all in her head Jackson. What if she's come down with some sort of island disease? Then what are we supposed to do? We can't afford to lose her,"

"Now you're talking about death? Nathan, Melissa is going to be fine. She just needs support and to hear that everything will be okay. She needs to know more of the truth,"

"More of the truth? Is there something I should know about?" Nathan's face instantly changed from worry to seriousness and a hint of frustration.

"I may have told her about what's happened for the past week or two,"

Nathan's expression turned to anger as he got to his feet and flung his arms in the air. He turned to Jackson with the same serious expression from earlier, his hands on his sides.

"How much did you tell her?"

"I told her about her walks during the night,"

"What about the cliff?"

"What about it?"

"What do you mean what about it?" Nathan forcefully sat down again. "Did you tell her about it or not?"

"I may have mentioned it to her. Not in detail if that's what you mean,"

"So you didn't tell her about the bloody fingers and the cliff side?"

"Of course I didn't tell her about that. I didn't want to scare the girl. And besides I figured I would consult you first before even thinking about telling her about it,"

"Just like you consulted with me before telling her anything,"

"Nathan she is going to find out eventually. So why not tell her about it piece by piece?"

"Because Jackson, there is obviously something strange about that cliff side for her to want to scrap away at it like a wild animal. I thought all of this ended when you two put those necklaces back where you found them?"

"And it did Nathan. She just needs to see that this cliff is nothing special and it is nothing but a wall full of granite and rock. Maybe then whatever is troubling her will go away," Jackson took a sip of a water bottle from the cooler. "I do believe that something is obviously troubling her and it is in fact in her head,"

"Out of the question. We are not taking her to that cliff,"

"I know that's why I'm taking her to a different cliff side. Once she realizes there is nothing special about the cliff. Then our problems will stop," Jackson got to his feet.

"What if they don't?"

"Well what if they do? All the many questions we have time to figure out while being stuck here,"

"All I can say is is that that must be some special cliff for her to want to scrap away at it with her bare hands," Jackson took a sip of his water and smirked at Nathan before going off into the jungle. Nathan just shook his head as he tended the fire.

My eyes fluttered open to the silence and the sight of the inside of the tent. All was quiet for some reason which I found strange. Usually you could hear the crashing of the waves or the wind rocking the trees back in forth. The odd time you would wake up to the sound of another person from camp speaking. Although, nothing could be heard!

I shifted my body to sit up and flattened out my messy hair. I crawled towards the tent flap and opened it. I crawled out onto the soft sand that carpeted the camp. I looked up and noticed that the camp was deserted. Normally I would find this to be normal but I also was taking into account the fact that I had gone completely deaf.

Then I heard it! The only sound I could possibly hear. It was soft and gentle but it was not the shaking of the trees or the crashing of the waves. It was something entirely different that I found myself drawn to. It then hit me that it was music being played. This music didn't sound like music being played over the loud speaker though or any type of modern day music. Which brought me to question where it was coming from?

I ran in the direction of the soft sound as leaves smacked against my body from crashing through them. I stopped to listen to where it was coming from and then began running some more. I was headed in a North West direction and the music began getting louder and louder as I approached the source of it. I reached a small clearing in the middle of the jungle. In the middle of the clearing was a small jewellery box. The music seemed to be a classical song that I seemed to recognize but the name of the piece I could not think of. I found it quiet peculiar to find a random musical jewellery box in the middle of the jungle. Was this some sort of trap? It seemed that way to me because you don't just randomly find jewellery boxes in the middle of the jungle playing music.

I approached the box with caution and stealth as to not attract any body near by. Although I did not get the feeling that I was being watched. I looked around to make sure there was no sort of net or pitfall around the box. I walked over to it and looked down in it. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. My sight must be teasing me as I looked down upon the two familiar heart necklaces sitting neatly in the box. I reached down to touch the blue necklace.

The moment my finger tips made contact with the heart, a high pitched frequency screech filled my ears. It was a very painful noise and I thought my ear drums just might crumble to bits at the sound of it. I covered my ears and scrunched my face in pain. I then realized that the sound was inside my head and rattling my brain. The sound was unbearable and was the most horrific noise I have ever heard in my life. I gripped my head as hard as I could with out physically squeezing it enough to crush it. I could feel my nails digging into my flesh.

I was hoping the pain would go away but it wouldn't. I was forced down on my knees by my whole body going numb. A picture flashed before my eyes. My eyes were closed so I assume it was my brain that picked up the picture. It was of a wild pig on a dirt pathway. What the heck? Another picture flashed into my mind. A rockslide was occurring on a mountain side and a figure was lying at the bottom of the mountain side about to be crushed. What did the pig and mountain side have to do with each other? Who was the figure at the bottom of mountain? I fell down to the ground as what appeared to be the final flash came into my head as if it was appearing in front of me. It was a flash of an old ruined building that looked like a military building. It was in the middle of the jungle surrounded trees and there was a dirt path breaching out from the main door and fading into the grass.

There was flash of white light and I found myself lying on the jungle floor beside the jewellery box. I sat up and looked in the box, only to discover the necklaces replaced by a piece of paper with some sort of inscriptions on them. I was afraid to touch the paper in case I was to experience what ever just happened again. I picked up the paper with ease and without any ringing noises or flashes. I glanced down at the paper to find some sort of sketch of a wall with symbols on it. The sketch looked very familiar to me for some reason, but I cannot recall where I have seen it before. I slipped the paper into one of the pockets of my khaki shorts.

I got up, back on my feet and looked around my surroundings only to realize, I don't remember the way back to camp. I ran in a North West direction, which means if I run in a South East direction I should be able to pick up my bearings easily due to familiarity of something in the area such as the water well. I ran in the estimated direction as I felt leaves brush against my body.

After running for a few minutes I came across a familiar path and followed it back to camp. Not to my surprise that the camp was still deserted. I went into the girl's tent and lied down on my sleeping bag. Hoping I would be able to figure out what was happening with me.

"Come on Eric, we all need to help out around here," Taylor told Eric. She and Eric went into the jungle to get firewood and water. They were walking back when Eric started complaining to Taylor about his water job.

"Easy for you to say" Eric stated. "All you have to do is charge the batteries and then you can go about doing whatever you want,"

"Yeah but we all have jobs and I do my job without complaints at all,"

"Once again, your job is so easy to do. You try carrying jugs back and forth like a pack mule,"

"Have you considered asking Jackson for a different job?"

"What other job could I have? Somebody needs to lug the water back and forth and besides, the guy still scares me," Eric shivered as if he just pictured an angry Jackson.

"Jackson isn't as bad as you think. If you sit down and talk to you him you might find him to be interesting,"

"Wait," Eric said and stopped. Taylor stopped and turned around to look at him. "Do you like him?" Eric seemed to be very serious about this. There was a hint of hurt in his face.

"No," Taylor said seriously. Eric began walking beside Taylor again. "I'm in love with him," This threw Eric off as he immediately dropped the water jugs and formed his hands into fists that were so tight he was almost digging his nails into the skin.

"What?" Eric asked with such hatred, not even looking at Taylor.

"Kidding," Taylor realized though that the damage was already done and it was too soon for jokes. Eric looked generally hurt and slightly ticked off. "I wouldn't dare go for Jackson. He and Melissa have had something going on since we crashed. Although I wouldn't have had a problem with stealing some girl's boy in the past, I know that Melissa truly cares about Jackson and Jackson doesn't even bother to look at me or Daley which is safe to say he cares about her too," Taylor gave Eric a sincere smile as to apologize and reassure him he has nothing to worry about.

"You better be telling the truth," Eric said coldly as he released the grip in his fists and picked up the water jugs. He began walking ahead of Taylor very fast and in an angry fashion. Taylor sighed and continued walking slowly behind, giving him space and time to cool down.

Nathan continued to tend the fire for Melissa as she rested. Daley came out of the plane and smiled at Nathan. He gave a goofy smile back as she took a seat on a log beside him. She moved a strand of her curly red hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear.

"So um," Daley started. Nathan turned and looked at her, his curls bouncing as he turned. "Lex's designs for the shelter are coming along great. He just showed me one of them. And he told me that he may be able to get the sound system working again. So then we will be able to play music while we work. Isn't that great Nathan?" Daley flashed him a big smile and seemed generally excited about this. Nathan wondered why she was so nervous to tell him about it though. It wasn't like she was telling him something horrible that might upset him. Nathan smiled back at Daley.

"That's wonderful Day. I'm sure everybody will be happy to hear that. It's been really boring around here lately with all the tension and silence. I mean don't get me wrong I do enjoy the sound of the ocean and trees, but we do need something to bring up everyone's spirits again,"

"Wow Nathan, you seem just as excited about this as I am. I never really thought about it that way. I was just excited about it because it's the closest thing we have to home, you know?"

"Yeah I know," They both continued to smile at each other, not noticing Eric come stomping in carrying the two water jugs. They didn't notice him until he dropped the water jugs rather angrily and picked up an empty pair.

"Hey Eric, Lex said he might be able to fix the sound system so we can listen to music again. Isn't that great?" Nathan asked happily, not noticing Eric's angry attitude.

"Oh yeah, it's just awesome," Eric said sarcastically. Daley's smile faded from her face noticing Eric's angry behaviour.

"What's got you all fired up?" Nathan asked jokingly. Eric looked at Nathan with such malice in his eyes. Nathan noticed this and his smile faded just as Daley's did.

"It's none of your bees wax. And even if there were something wrong, what makes you think you two would be the first I would tell?" Eric snorted and walked away shaking his head, nearly bumping into a passing by Taylor.

Taylor came in and dropped the fire wood in a heap beside the fire for later use. She looked generally distressed about something as she sighed and flipped her hair out of her face. Before Nathan or Daley could ask what's wrong with Eric and her, Taylor spoke.

"I'm going to go and tan, if that's okay with you two," Taylor didn't seem to be asking permission, but rather telling them. Nathan just nodded as Daley told Taylor 'sure'. Taylor walked away towards the beach as Jackson came out from the jungle. Daley and Nathan just sat motionless, as if they were both trying to process what just happened. Jackson walked over and stood in front of the both of them.

"So I just passed by Eric," Jackson told them pointing his thumb behind him in the direction Eric went in. "He seemed a bit peeved off. Did something happen?" Daley broke her trance and looked up at Jackson who seemed to be staring down at the two with confusion.

"Wouldn't we all like to know," Daley told him as Nathan broke his train of thought too at the sound of Daley's voice.

"So you're not sure what happened then?" Jackson asked, crossing his arms. "I thought maybe he and you two got into some sort of fight or something because he walked past me muttering the word 'stupid' and both of your names,"

"Honestly Jackson," Daley started. "It's really not all that important,"

"Alright, if you say so," Jackson sighed and looked over their heads towards the girls tent. He nodded his head towards it. "Is Melissa up yet? Me and her are supposed to go picking fruit later together," Daley put a hand to her forehead to shield her eyes, so she could see Jackson better as the sun had just come out. Nathan rolled his eyes as he knew what Jackson and Melissa's true intentions were.

"As far as I know she is still sleeping," Daley turned to Nathan. "Nathan, do you know if she has woken up yet?"

"Not that I know of," Nathan smiled. "Unless she can some how become invisible and sneak past me, I don't think she has yet," Nathan laughed at his own joke as Daley gave a big smile. Jackson just rolled his eyes and kept a serious face.

"Well when she does decide to wake up," Jackson said then licked his lips. "Tell her to come find me down the beach by the tide pools,"

"You got it chief," Nathan told him and saluted him. Jackson walked away towards the beach as Daley burst out laughing. Daley waited until Jackson was out of earshot before asking Nathan.

"So, Melissa and Jackson huh?" Daley looked at Nathan and smiled assuming he would know.

"I honestly don't know," Nathan told her as he shrugged.

"Well, shouldn't you know? I mean aren't you and Mel, like best friends or something?"

"Well yeah, we are. But just because we are doesn't mean there are some things that are personal to us that we decide not to tell each other. I mean we all know Melissa likes Jackson. And Jackson has this whole caring for Melissa thing going on. So I guess it's safe to say that he likes her. Honestly I don't know though. I really don't think Jackson would break his own rule. For all we know, Jackson could only like Melissa as a friend and make it seem other rise. But I highly doubt it's that," Nathan explained to her. Daley just shrugged her shoulders in understanding and put her hand on his leg.

"Well whatever it is, I'm just glad everybody is getting along, I mean besides Taylor and Eric. It's great that me and you have put our differences aside too. I hope you know that if there is anything you want to tell me, you are more then welcome to,"

"Really?" Nathan asked rather excitedly.

"Well yeah of course. I'm not going to judge you or laugh in your face unless it is something really stupid like when you had the rash on your legs," Daley laughed at the memory as Nathan blushed in embarrassment. "Now that was amusing, but at the same time serious. So I just wanted to let you know," Daley patted his leg before rising to her feet. "We'll talk later," She told him before walking away to the other side of the plane, assumingly to check on Lex.

"Dammit," Nathan said as he pounded his fists on his legs. Melissa came out of the girls tent yawning. She walked up to the same log he was sitting on and took Daley's place as he muttered under his breath.

"Hey Nathan," Melissa said sleepily. Nathan was caught off guard by Melissa and didn't notice her presence.

"Oh hey Mel," Nathan said too enthusiastically. Melissa stared at him confused as she lifted one eyebrow. "Never mind how was your sleep? Have any good dreams?"

"Not really, unless of course you count Eric walking out of the jungle holding a chimpanzee's hand and revealing to all of us that he just married the chimpanzee,"

"That's a little…interesting," Nathan told her, unsure of how to respond to what she just said.

"Yeah I know," Melissa told him, understanding his confusion. Nathan just nodded his head before lightling up as a light bulb as if he remembered something.

"Oh yeah," Nathan said as he snapped his fingers and pointed his fingers to Melissa in a gun gesture. "Jackson is waiting for you at the tide pools. He told me and Daley to tell you that," Melissa lit up in happiness but tried to hide it. She didn't do so well though. Nathan pretended as if he didn't notice.

"Oh thanks Nathan," Melissa gave a big smile as she got to her feet and ran in the direction of the tide pools. Nathan sighed realizing he was alone as he poked the fire wood with a stick.

"And then there was one," Nathan muttered to himself as he sighed again.

**So this is the most waited for chapter. I know it's been years now so here it is for your eyes to enjoy and then for you to post reviews about. So I decided to reread the first story and the chapters of this one. I realized how much of a bad writer I was back then, making obvious spelling and grammar mistakes. I also noticed the many loop holes in my story that I left open. I hope I don't do the same this time. I'm sorry if this confused you but just so you know. Any time it is in first person it is Melissa's perspective for further notice. I may decide to give Jackson's perspective in further chapters but that won't be for a while. I got this awesome idea for the story so I'm going to use it. I hope you enjoy and review. **


	5. The Boys Are Bad In Town

**Hey so I hope you enjoyed the long awaited forth chapter to my series. So I'm pretty sure that in this chapter, there is going to be some more mystery revealed and more mystery being solved so basically, the mystery never ends. I apologize if my chapters come out later then they should I get distracted very easily and my biggest distraction at the moment is television on the computer. I'm hoping to finish this story by the end of the summer. Oh and btw I hate the way my story appears on with the stupid spaces and no indents. I know you can get rid of the double spaces but I want my stories to be indented too which you can't do so whatever. Sorry for rambling on and enjoy this chapter. **

Why is it that of all the people that are stranded on this island, I am the only one to experience the most messed up stuff? Why am I the only one that has secrets kept from them? And I'm not talking about the tiny secrets; I'm talking about the life altering ones that every body knows but you. Yeah, before I found those necklaces, Nathan and Jackson used to tell my pretty much everything. Now they only tell me the tiny details that don't really matter. I'm still waiting for Nathan to tell me that he likes Daley by the way. Yeah I defiantly don't think he is planning on telling me that any time soon. I'm probably going to find out when everyone else does.

The thing is, is that everybody thinks I'm so weak and that I should take it easy and rest. And by rest they mean sleep. If they only knew that by me sleeping, it is making me feel worse. I obviously have to sleep but I would rather avoid it if I can. Especially during the day when I could be busy helping out and actually getting my strength back. I really want to tell Jackson or Nathan, mostly Jackson though, about what has been going on but then he might coddle me and tell me that I should rest or something like Nathan told me earlier. Well, I'm on my way to him now so I guess I can try and tell him.

I walked through the sand as fast as I could towards the tide pools. The more and more I got closer to the tide pools, the clearer it got that Jackson was not in sight around the pools. I finally reached the tide pools and my eyes were not lying. Jackson was not here at all. Why would Jackson tell Nathan and Daley to meet me here if he wasn't even here? Was this some sort of trap?

Then I noticed the foot prints. Jackson did indeed walk this way and by the looks of it, it seemed like he was pacing back in forth for a while before turning towards the jungle and walking into it. I followed the tracks in the sand towards the jungle and into the foliage of the trees. I wasn't very good at tracking so finding Jackson in the jungle with out foot prints would be extremely difficult. I walked on through the jungle and decided to call his name a couple times. Considering I have never been in this part of the jungle before, I had a feeling that getting lost would be very easy and finding Jackson would be very hard.

I walked on for a few minutes, getting more and more lost. I even started calling Jackson's name some more, but it was just no use. I will never understand what goes through that boys mind. You defiantly never know what he is going to do next, that's for sure. Like did I know that by being told to meet him by the tide pools, I would be tromping through the jungle right now on the verge of being lost? Well no I actually did not. It's almost lunch time too! When I find him I'm going to kill him. If I find him, I might be dead from being lost in the jungle. Wait what if something happened to him? I don't even want to have that thought in my head. It's a really upsetting thought to think that Jackson could be injured or even worse dead. I can't let these thoughts get to me.

I stopped some where in the middle of the jungle coming to the conclusion that I was officially lost. Right about now, I'm wishing that Jackson was here. Why did I follow the tracks, why didn't I just wait until Jackson came back from where he went to? For all I know he could have gone to the bathroom and I went to look for him and he came back and could be waiting for me at this very moment as I'm off lost looking for him. Oh god, what have I done. The smart option would have been to wait or at least go back to camp and tell Nathan that Jackson didn't show up. Yeah but of course, here I am, not thinking once again.

I continued to stand in the middle of the jungle, only more and more in fear. A gust of wind shook the tree tops around me as I turned in a circle looking around. I will admit I was standing there in fear, not knowing what to do and whether or not to try and find my way back. I began to hear noises, but they weren't human at all. It was weird noises, as if made by an insect or animal. I will admit that I have seen a few episodes of Lost, and I am truly aware that hearing random noises in the middle of the jungle is not a self assuring thing especially when you are stranded on a deserted island in the middle of the jungle. I was debating on whether or not to scream for Jackson again, but after my many other attempts, I figured doing so would just do nothing what so ever.

"Melissa," A loud voice screamed in the distance. I instantly recognized it as Jackson's voice.

"Jackson," I screamed as loud as I could. I heard him scream my name again and started running in the direction of his voice. But as I ran it seemed like his voice was moving farther away from mine. Didn't he hear my voice? I ran until I ran out of breath and had to stop to catch it again. I began to hear random noises again as I looked around at the wind blown trees. I didn't hear Jackson's voice again. I must have been really far in the jungle. If I was lost earlier, now I was truly lost beyond belief. I gulped as the trees in front of me began to move. It's either Jackson or I'm just hallucinating. I stared in horror as whatever was moving through the trees towards me got closer and closer. If it was Jackson, wouldn't he be calling my name though? What if it isn't him? I'm standing right in the pathway of a possible psycho path that could try to kill me.

Then, whatever was moving towards me stopped suddenly, only a few feet away from me. I gulped silently. This is it, the moment where my life flashes before my eyes. Whatever was a few feet away from me was waiting for the right moment to attack. I stood silently regretting coming into the jungle. I closed my eyes and began to count to five in my head. _One…two…three…four…five. _I opened my eyes to the shaking of the trees brought on by the wind. I sighed, hoping that whatever was there went away.

I felt two arms wrap around my body. I jumped and screamed, turning to face my kidnapper's chest. The unknown person shushed me as they held me close. I looked up into the arms of Jackson, who looked worried and some what in fear. I cuddled into his chest as he held me close. Then the anger came back to me as I pulled away from him and smacked his chest. He released his grip on me only to look confused and hurt.

"What was that for?" He asked me, the tears rolling down my face. I didn't even notice that I started crying in fear.

"Where were you?" I decided to ask him that first before answering his question. He sighed and looked down at the ground.

"I went looking for you Mel," He looked back up at me. "I got worried when you didn't show up,"

"What do you mean didn't show up? I showed up and you weren't there,"

"What?" He scrunched up his face in confusion.

"Yeah, I got there and you were not by the tide pools. You had went off into the jungle,"

"I went into the jungle after you went in there," He told me. "I followed your tracks in,"

"That is kind of impossible considering I followed your tracks into the jungle," I put my hands on my hips.

"Wait so you're telling me," He started to say as he crossed his arms across his chest. "That you showed up and the tracks were already there?"

"That's what I'm telling you. I showed up, you weren't there, and there were tracks that were pacing back and forth before heading into the jungle,"

"I got there and waited for a bit. Then I thought I saw somebody or something by the water past the tide pools. So I went to investigate whatever I saw only to find nothing over there. I came back and discovered tracks heading into the jungle. I assumed they were yours so I followed them in. I heard you screaming my name, so I started running in your direction,"

"Wait, so the tracks weren't there when you got to the tide pools?" I was really confused at the moment. Is he trying to tell me that he may have seen somebody else and he came back to find tracks going into the jungle? I'm beginning to feel like we just walked into a trap.

"No they weren't, which is why I assumed they were yours," The more and more he told me, the more and more I started to feel afraid.

"How come you stopped screaming my name?" This question had been bothering me for the last couple minutes.

"Melissa," Jackson's expression was unreadable. "I never screamed your name once. I was afraid that if I did, who ever I saw, might come in my direction," My eyes grew wider and wider.

"But you had to have screamed my name. I mean I heard you scream it. It was your voice I heard," He shook his head at me as to disagree. "So if you saw somebody in the distance and went to go investigate, then whoever made those tracks made them after you showed up but before I did. You followed me in after coming back and assuming the tracks were mine. I began to scream your name which you heard, but I heard you scream mine which you couldn't have heard. You came up behind me, but something was moving in the trees in front of me," My eyes grew wider as I pieced together everything. "Do you know what this means?"

"It means, were not alone," He said, a hint of fear in his voice.

Eric was walking alone the beach, kicking sand in an angry fashion. He was muttering harsh words about Taylor, Jackson, Daley, and Nathan. He didn't know what to think of Taylor at the moment. She did hurt his feelings and she knew it. Daley and Nathan didn't help that much either. Eric was just wishing he could be back at home with no one telling him what to do, or at least no one his age. He was starting to regret coming on this trip. He came on the trip because he wanted to get closer to Taylor but now that he was starting to see her real side, he was starting to feel it was a total loss. Taylor has got great looks going for her and she wasn't as smart as he is which he enjoyed. But lately she is becoming more mature and smarter and making him feel like the dead weight around here. Eric didn't like that very much at all. And now Taylor is more interested in mysterious chief Jackson, our saviour. Please, the guy is always scowling. What's so great about a bad boy with a troubled past? Eric was thinking about how he could be a bad boy if he tried. All he had to do is dress in black and practice his scowl face. He thought he might do just that, practice his scowl face. Taylor will dig it!

While kicking the sand with his foot, he didn't notice the hard object buried in the sand until it collided with his foot. He immediately grabbed his hurt foot and began jumping up and down, trying to look at it. He lost his balance and collapsed in the sand. He looked up at the object sticking out of the sane. He crawled towards it and began to dig it out from the sand. He lifted out what appeared to be an old metal box. He dusted the sand off of it and moved it around in his hands, inspecting what he discovered.

"Is that an old ammo box?" a serious voice asked behind him. Eric held the box so tightly to his chest. It was as if it was the only thing keeping him alive.

"It's mine, I found it," Eric began, very defensively. "So just bugger off and leave me and what I found alone," Eric turned his head to look at the eleven year old standing there. Lex had the most serious look on his face. Eric couldn't miss the opportunity to mess around with the kid.

"Eric, I seriously think you should be careful with that box and bring it back to camp to be examined. There could still be ammunition in there, and if that box isn't handled gently, you'll be blown to smithereens. I'm surprised it didn't blow up when you tripped over it," Lex explained to him carefully. Eric didn't like the sound of being blown across the sand. He was debating on whether or not to give the box to Lex. It was a very good idea to give Lex the box and if something happens it won't affect him. Not like anything will happen, but just to be safe.

Eric got to his feet carefully and turned towards Lex. Eric walked towards Lex and stood in front of him. The voice of Taylor ringing in his head about being good didn't help the look of surprise on Lex's face. Eric looked down at the kid with a bit of fear then a smile formed on his mouth. He walked past Lex towards the camp, Lex following behind confused.

Taylor was sitting by the fire pit clipping her nails, while Nathan helped Daley put up a canopy above the entrance to the plane. Lex walked up beside Eric and cleared his throat. Immediately, all three people turned to stare at the two, but their eyes zoomed in on the box in Eric's hand.

"Let me do all the talking," Lex whispered to Eric who just nodded his head. "Eric discovered this box buried in the sand after tripping over it. Now, it looks like an old military box and…"

"I say we open this sucker up and see what's inside," Eric interrupted.

He walked over to the fire pit and put the box down as everybody crowded around. Lex was the only one who was standing in the same spot, mouth open in shock and disbelief.

"Excuse me, but I think we should at least wait until Jackson comes back and then decide to open it," Lex declared. "For all we know, there could be something dangerous in there," Eric turned around to face Lex and rolled his eyes.

"I tripped over it and nothing happened. I think it would be fine to open the box with out "Scowl Face" here to tell us what to do. Now I don't know about you guys, but finding this box is the most exciting thing that has happened in days. And I'm not going to sit around here and wait until I have approval to open up something _I _found," Eric turned back around and put his hands on the lid, about to lift it off.

"Lex is right," Taylor said. Eric looked up at her with shock.

"What?" Eric asked in a cracked voice.

"You agree with Lex, Taylor?" Daley asked the blonde, her hands in her pockets.

"Well, yeah," Taylor said. "I mean shouldn't Jackson and Melissa be here with all of us when we open the box. I know that if I were them, of course I couldn't be them because I'm too pretty, but I would want to be here," While Eric starred at Taylor in shock, Nathan was the first to make an interesting discovery.

"Speaking of Jackson and Melissa, where are they?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, I haven't seen them since Jackson told us to tell Melissa to meet him and Melissa went to go meet up with him," Daley said.

"How long ago was that?" Lex asked, walking closer to the group.

"I don't know, an hour or so ago,"

"You know what their doing," Taylor said, as a big smirk formed on her face.

"Melissa's not like that," Nathan told Taylor, who's smirk disappeared right after.

"But Jackson might be," Daley told Nathan, who suddenly gained a worried look.

"You don't think Jackson would try anything?"

"Guys please; this is Jackson we are talking about. He's not exactly the one to chase girls, let alone take advantage of them. We have known him for half a month now and he hasn't tried anything yet. If anything, he's been the one who has cared for Melissa the most," Lex explained to everybody. Everybody nodded in agreement with him, besides Eric.

"Yeah that's all good and grand but I want to open this sucker up," Eric told them and began trying to lift the lid up.

"Eric," Taylor began. "You're being stupid and illogical," Taylor said. Everybody stared at Taylor in utter disbelief as she just smirked. Nobody could deny it, Eric was being stupid and illogical and Taylor put him in his place perfectly.

Melissa and Jackson continued to walk through the jungle, trying to find their way out. Melissa kept asking questions here and there, as Jackson just rolled his eyes. Finally after walking and listening to Melissa ramble, Jackson decided to answer her. He stepped in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"But what if we get…" Melissa said before stopping at Jackson's action.

"Melissa," Jackson looked down at the ground, trying to think of what to say. When he collected his thoughts he looked back up at her. "We will find a way out, trust me. I will get you back to camp safe and sound. You do trust me don't you?" Melissa just stared at him for a few minutes before nodding.

"Yeah, I do," She managed to blurt out.

"Now do you trust me to get you out of here?"

"Yes," He removed his hands from her shoulders.

"Then stop flying questions out like a talk show host," Melissa nodded her head then looked down. Her face went red and it was obvious she was trying to hide her embarrassment. Jackson sighed then lifted her chin up to look at him. "You don't have to be embarrassed. I know you're just scared and confused. But I promise you that I will get you out of here. You just have to trust me," Melissa nodded her head. Jackson slid his hand down her arm to her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. Her face became red again as Jackson smirked at her embarrassment.

They began walking through the jungle some more. Jackson would push branches out of Melissa's way for her as she walked right behind him, but very close to him. They walked for what seemed like 10 minutes until they came to a tiny valley. They stared out onto the beauty of the island. Jackson was breathing heavily. He released Melissa's hand and ran his hands through his hair. Melissa walked up to him and placed her hands on his arm. He looked down at her as she glanced up at him.

"I recognize this place," Jackson told her. "This is where the cliff is," A smile crept on to her lips.

"Lead the way," Melissa said. Jackson turned to his right and started walking towards the jungle. He walked a few steps before realizing that Melissa wasn't behind him. He turned to look at her. He walked towards her and stood in front of her. She had this serious look on her face as if she was in some sort of trance. Jackson shook Melissa by the shoulder gently. Her eyes slowly moved up to look at him. Her eyes were with malice and hatred in them. Then just like that she shook her head and acted normal again.

"Are you okay?" Jackson asked her, a confused look plastered on his face.

"Please don't lie to me, Jackson," Melissa said very coldly.

"What are you talking about?" Melissa didn't think it was possible for Jackson's face to get anymore confused, but it did.

"The cliff isn't that way?" Melissa pointed in the direction Jackson walked in. "Were standing on the cliff. The wall is right below us," Jackson stared at Melissa and licked his lips. He looked like he was trying to think about what was going on. He blinked his eyes a bit and took a step back.

"How would you know that?" Jackson asked her. It seemed like the only thing he could think of.

"Because I remember everything," Melissa told him, the most serious look on her face.

**Cliffy! I know I'm sorry I haven't posted the chapter in a long time. It's because I have fell in love with a ship called Eclare from Degrassi. If you're not sure who that is, it's Clare and Eli. I'm also working on my story in real life and I apologize for the shortness. Next chapter will hopefully be longer and better. **


	6. Can't Stop This Raw Feeling

**So, how about that last chapter? I know I left you in suspense and I said that mysteries would be solved and some would be revealed. For those who didn't understand the mysteries. The box mystery was revealed and the mystery of whether Melissa would remember is solved. Now to see what happens in this chapter. **

Have you ever been betrayed before? I have. It's such a terrible feeling to be betrayed by some one you care about or even somebody you don't. I would expect it from Eric though and Taylor because that's what they do. They lie, manipulate, and betray you like it was their life purpose. Maybe it is, I don't know. All I know is that standing here in front of Jackson after seeing what I have seen makes that sickening feeling in my stomach grow. The feeling of being scared and nervousness mixed with betrayal. A feeling as sweet as the taste of a raw apple! That's what I call this feeling, raw.

I had another flash. I was standing in the very spot I'm in right now. Only I began to float to my left down the hill like it was a staircase. I turned at the bottom to the right and there was the cliff face. Staring me in the face with its rocky face, visible symbols on certain rocks! My body was lying at the bottom of the cliff, my fingers were all bloody. Jackson and Nathan were kneeling beside my body. To my amazement, the rock face behind them opened up, revealing a black tunnel. They didn't take any notice in it. Then I felt shaky and broke from my trance to stare at Jackson.

I didn't know what to think, He asked me if I was okay. No I was not freaking okay. I was furious and hurt. So I told him he lied to me. I watched his face grow confused. Clearly he didn't understand what he had done to me. He asked what I was talking about. What am I talking about?

"Why did you try to lead me in the opposite direction, when me and you both know that you and Nathan discovered me down there," I pointed to the cliff. I was furious. "And you guys tried to cover your tracks and lie about it. You were going to lead me to another cliff and hope I would realize that it was normal and there was nothing wrong with it," I got closer and began poking him in the chest. He didn't look scared, he just looked apologetic. "Then I would just lay off the subject and everything would go back to normal. If I forget about it, then I will stop stressing over it and go back to normal. Am I right? Jackson, am I freaking right?" Yeah I just realized how close my face was to his and how worked up I was. He looked into my eyes, hoping to find my calmness and the angel he thought I was. Too bad he didn't, because the only thing in my eyes was a killing machine. Not literally, I mean I wasn't going to push him off the cliff or anything, although the thought crossed my mind.

"Your right," He mumbled quietly after a few minutes.

"Really" I asked him, with a bit of shock and confusion in my voice. I didn't expect him to openly admit that I was right. I wasn't sure if it made things worse or better.

"Yes, I lied to you. And I'm not proud of what I did and I'm sure Nathan is kicking his ass right now too," Jackson said, he then sighed and looked down at the ground. I backed up off him.

"So why did you guys do it?" I asked calmly. How did I manage to go from killing machine to calm old me in a minute? I guess Jackson just has that kind of effect on me.

"Exactly the reason you said," Jackson said, before explaining it further. "We hoped that if you seen how stupid this cliff was, you might just forget about it. Move on and go back to the old you. We were so worried about you," He grabbed my hands with his. "I'm worried about you," I officially hate him for having this effect on me. Stupid Jackson and his knowing me too well! "And," He licked his lips and looked to the side before looking at me again. "I know that your dreams are bothering you like we discussed last night,"

"Yeah, they are," I admitted.

"Why would you lie about them to me?" He looked hurt by this.

"Because I knew that you would treat me like a baby and tell me it's all in my head," Jackson smirked at me.

"Actually Nathan is the one that thinks it's all in your head," Jackson gave a tiny laugh. "I think you need to come and talk to me whenever you need to," He leaned forward. I thought he was going to kiss me so I stiffened up. His face brushed against my cheek as I felt his hot breath on my neck then stop on my ear. "Because I'm a good listener," He whispered in my ear really gently. How am I not kissing him right now? He leaned his head back and kept his face close to mine. He glanced down into my eyes then a smile grew on his face, this time with his white teeth showing. Stupid hormones!

After Taylor told Eric off, Eric stormed off, leaving the box behind. Taylor waited a few minutes before walking after Eric. She saw him in the distance, fuming from earlier. He looked generally ticked off, and angrier then earlier. Taylor was trying to think about how to approach him? He could fly off the handle at any minute. Taylor's ideas were running out as she got closer and closer to him. Any minute now he would notice her walking towards him.

He turned and looked at her with hatred in his eyes. This was it! He walked up to Taylor very angrily, as Taylor just stood there holding her arm at her side, biting her lip. He stopped in front of her; his eyes were all red, which made Taylor feel even worse because he was crying before she showed up. He looked like he was going to say something as he pointed his finger at her, his mouth gapping for words to say. He put his finger down and turned around. He started walking back then got a few feet. He stopped and stood there. Then he finally turned around and began walking towards Taylor again. He stopped in front of her.

"What the…" He started very angrily. He never got to finish his sentence as Taylor had walked towards him and grabbed his face and pulled it towards her, pressing her lips on his. Her eyes closed, his eyes stayed open in shock. His hands stayed in the air not sure what to do with them. When she didn't break the kiss, he put his hands slowly on her back. He closed his eyes slowly, accepting defeat.

She eventually pulled away, leaving Eric's face still in the kiss expression; his eyes slowly opened and stared at her. She ran her hands only his face and hair, as he released his hands from her.

"I'm sorry," She told him, in a serious apologetic voice.

"You just kissed me," Eric said, as more of a question. Taylor rolled her eyes at him and smiled.

"Come here," She said. She then pulled him towards her and began kissing him again. Her hands reached up to his hair as she ran her fingers through it. He placed his hands on her lower back, as they moved their lips rhythmically.

Jackson and I stood in front of the cliff with our heads turned to the side confused. The cliff looked like any other cliff formation. The symbols weren't even visible. After staring at it for a while, Jackson finally broke the silence.

"So, you going to tell me what's so special about this cliff, Mel?" he asked, his eyes not leaving the cliff. I nodded my head and walked towards it. Jackson stayed behind in the same spot and observed me. I could feel his eyes on my back. I even knew that he was standing there, arms crossed, biting his lip.

I walked up close to the cliff wall and ran my hands along an indent in the wall. There was a symbol etched into the wall just like my flash. I pressed on the symbol and the brick pushed in and stayed there. There was a loud noise, as if something behind the wall moved. I turned to look at Jackson who raised his eyebrows at me. The symbol looked familiar, like I've seen it before. That's because I have seen it before.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. There in the pattern on the paper was the symbol I just pushed in. Among it were many other symbols. Not just any old symbols, they were hieroglyphics. I walked along the wall noticing that there were more then one symbol, there were many and all of them matched the symbols on the paper. The paper must be the order I put the hieroglyphs in. I turned to Jackson who was trying to figure out what I was doing. He had one arm across his chest and the other resting on it with his hand on his face. He moved his hand off his face to ask what I was doing.

"It's a puzzle," I told him.

"You're joking right?" When my face stayed serious he took it that I wasn't joking. He walked towards the wall and stood beside me. "So what kind of puzzle are we talking about?" He looked over at me. I handed him the paper I had in my hand. He looked down at the paper and studied it for a while. He then looked up at the wall and tried to focus his eyes on it. "There are hieroglyphs on the wall that match the hieroglyphs on the paper," He looked at me to see if he was right. I smiled at him to tell him he was right. He looked back at the wall and smiled. He nodded his head in surprise.

"All we have to do is put the symbols in the order on the paper and then the wall should open," Jackson looked confused by the last part but let it go.

"Let's get cracking then," He told me as he moved towards the wall to begin. I smiled at his pun.

"I don't think that is a good idea," Lex said. Daley and Nathan were sitting with him discussing the box. "I think we should wait for Jackson to come back,"

"But we don't know when he's going to be back," Daley declared.

"He could be back any minute now and I know he wouldn't like it if we opened something we discovered with out him,"

"He wasn't here to discover it so it doesn't matter if he is here when we open it,"

"When did your opinion change about this?"

"I thought about it and maybe, I can't believe I'm saying this, but Eric may be right about this. Eric did find it and…" Daley stopped as she felt Nathan tap her on the shoulder.

"Daley we should just let it go," Nathan whispered to her.

"Why should we?"

"Because you are arguing with your younger brother about a box that will still be the same regardless of if we open it now or later," Now Nathan possessed a very good point. Daley sighed and turned to Lex. Only Lex wasn't there and either was the box. Daley got to her feet, as did Nathan.

"Where did Lex go?" Daley asked Nathan.

"How should I know? I was talking to you," Daley felt stupid because Nathan was right again. She was talking to Nathan the whole time so neither of them would have seen Lex leave.

Taylor and Eric came walking out of the jungle together smiling and laughing. Daley and Nathan didn't even want to ask how they smoothed things out. Eric and Taylor stopped laughing when they saw the looks on Daley and Nathan's faces.

"Where's small fry?" Eric asked.

"He took the box and ran off some where," Nathan told him.

"That little…" Eric started.

"Choose your words wisely," Daley said a hint of anger in her voice.

"…Durp," Eric blurted out.

"That's not choosing your words wisely," Daley scolded him. "My brother is not stupid,"

"He took the box and ran off," Eric shouted.

"He is right," Nathan agreed. Eric did a gesture and mouthed the word thank you.

"Nathan," Daley shouted, turning around and smacked him on the chest.

"I think we should all split up and search for him in pairs," Taylor suggested.

"That's actually a good idea Taylor," Daley said, surprised.

"Okay, I'll go with…" Eric began to say

"…Me," Daley announced.

"What?" Eric asked in a high pitched voice.

"Yeah and Nathan and Taylor can go together,"

"Daley I really don't think that is a good idea," Nathan admitted.

"Sure it is," Daley disagreed. "It's better to go with somebody that won't distract us,"

"You find me to be a distraction?" Nathan asked happily.

"Sure I do," Daley smiled. "Along with Taylor," Nathan's smile faded. "We will meet back here before dinner,"

"Awe, we don't get any lunch?" Eric whined. Daley ignored Eric and grabbed him by the wrist.

"Me and Eric will go East, you two go West," With that, Daley dragged Eric off into the jungle. Taylor and Nathan just stared at each other with awkward faces.

"Honestly Mel," Jackson started. "I don't want to sound like a totally downer, but we have put this pattern in at least seven times now and nothing has happened yet,"

"We can't give up now," Melissa murmured. "We got to keep trying,"

"How many times are we going to have to put the symbols in before you realize that nothing is going to happen?" Melissa sighed.

"I just know that eventually, it will work," Jackson stared down at Melissa for what seemed like five minutes. Was he doing that thing again where he tried to figure me out?

"If you think it will work, then we will continue to work on it," Jackson said to me. I smiled at him and began to push the symbols in. Jackson stood and observed again. I got to the fifth symbol.

"Wait, stop!" Jackson yelled to me. I turned around and stared at him. He walked over to the symbol I just pushed in. "Watch this brick," We stood there and stared at it. I was starting to wonder what was happening. Then all of a sudden the very symbol I just pushed in, pushed back out on its own. I gapped at what just happened. "We've been pushing these symbols in for the last twenty minutes only for half of them to push back out one by one,"

"So what do we do then?"

"Were going to have to get our timing right, and push them all in, in the time given to us,"

"This is going to be more challenging then I thought," Melissa said then sighed. They both looked at the one symbol.

Daley and Eric were wandering through the jungle. Daley was ranting on about something while Eric, unfortunately had to listen and walk.

"I cannot believe Lex would betray me like this. He's such a blah, and I have blah," After a while all Eric heard was blah.

"Just kill me now," Eric muttered under his breath. Eventually Daley stopped, causing Eric to crash into her. "What's the big deal?" Daley looked around before speaking.

"I think were lost," Eric's eyes widened. He ran in front of Daley to face her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Eric said. "We cannot be lost. I can't be lost in the jungle with you,"

"Gee thanks Eric," Daley didn't show any sign of hurt. "Trust me, your not my ideal guy to be stuck with in the middle of the jungle,"

"So who is your ideal guy," Eric asked her, all flirty. "Is it Nathan?"

"Please, Eric," Daley stared at Eric with a confused face. Her cheeks were turning as red as her hair though. "Nathan is not my type,"

"Oh yeah," Eric grinned at her. "Then why are you blushing," Daley looked away from Eric.

"I'm not," Daley said. "Let's keep walking," Daley said as Eric laughed behind her.

No matter how fast me and Jackson went, we just couldn't get the puzzle down right. I could tell he was about to give up again. He sat down on the ground and sighed. He looked up at me with eyes that told me that it was no use. I sighed and leaned against the cave.

"I'm sorry Mel, but we're not going to figure this puzzle out. We have been at it for an hour now and nothing good has come from it," I was just about ready to give up defeat. "If we could pull the bricks out, then we could get a better look at the mechanism that causes them to pop back out," Then I thought about what he said. It hit my like a ton of bricks. Pun not intended.

"Jackson, you're a genius," I told him. I got down on my knees and hugged him tight. "We need to pull the bricks out," I ran up to the wall and pulled the first brick out with ease. I looked in the small hole where the brick once was. There was a spring with a metal plate at the end in the shape of one of the symbols. I looked at the end of the brick and saw a hole in the shape of another symbol. I couldn't believe it. This whole time we were going about it the wrong way. "The bricks pop back out because the metal plates don't fit in the right hole," Jackson smiled at me and got up. He pulled out another brick and looked at it. He then looked up at me and smiled again. I really couldn't help but blush because I knew he was impressed by me.

We began pulling bricks out and trying to match them with the right holes. After a while of matching we cam to the last brick. Jackson looked at me and handed me it.

"You want me to put it in?" I asked confused.

"You figured out the puzzle so you should,"

"We will put it in together," He nodded his head. I put my hand on top of his as he pushed the brick into the hole.

We stepped back and waited. Nothing happened at all. I think I was about to cry. Then I had a weird noise coming from behind the wall. It was a clicking noise. Then there was a bang and the wall began to move to the left slowly. Jackson looked at me before picking me up and spinning me around in a hug. We stared at the black tunnel in front of us, just like it was in my flash.

Nathan and Taylor walked through the jungle on the way back to camp. They had no luck finding Lex any where. They hadn't really talked the whole time. The silence was slowly killing them. One of them was going to break.

"So…" Nathan started.

"I kissed Eric," Taylor blurted out then covered her mouth right after. Nathan stopped and stared at her, wide eyed and his jaw dropped.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that and I didn't hear that," Nathan told her. They began walking some more. Nathan turned to Taylor. "Eric? Really"

"I thought you were dropping it?" Taylor whined. Nathan started laughing.

"Sorry it's, just, I thought you went for football players,"

"Because I went for you?" Taylor asked. "Please Nathan, I learned my lesson from when I dated you," Nathan looked offended but Taylor pretended not to notice it. "Besides, a girl's opinion can change. I mean look at Daley, for some reason she sees something in you," Nathan's head snapped up to look at her.

"Daley likes me?"

"Please, Nathan, it's so painfully obvious that you both like each other. Just as it's obvious that Jackson and Melissa love each other. Some things are just obvious,"

"Well you and Eric didn't make it obvious that you two liked each other,"

"That's because I can keep my feelings under wrap when I want them too,"

"You just blurted out your feelings right now,"

"Well I had to say something; you could cut the tension with a knife. And besides, me and you are talking now aren't we?" They both smiled at each other as they continued to walk.

Jackson and Melissa walked up to the entrance of the tunnel. Melissa grabbed Jackson's hand as he led her into the darkness. They walked a little bit before they discovered light in the distance. The walked further into the tunnel till they got a dead end. There were wires on the sides of the walls with lanterns hanging off them. Crates and cargo crowded the room.

"There is power in this room which means there must be power coming from some where on the island," Melissa said excitedly. Jackson followed the wires to the back of the room.

"The wires seem to go into the wall here. No puzzles or symbols are going to get us through this wall. Only a giant drill will," Jackson told her. Melissa walked towards one of the crates.

"I wonder what's inside this crate," Jackson walked over to stand beside her. He looked down beside the crate and picked up a crowbar that was leaning against the wall.

"Only one way to find out,"

Everybody met up at camp, only to discover Lex sitting on a log by the fire eating a mango, the box between his legs. Eric's face became furious as he saw this. He would have run at Lex if Daley and Nathan didn't hold him back.

"What's the deal with you?" Eric asked angrily. "We walked all over the damn island to find you only for you to be here the whole time, munching on a mango. I gave up my lunch for you,"

"No you gave it up for a box, you believed I had," Lex wiped his mouth. "I hid the box in the plane and was there the whole time. You guys figured that I would run into the jungle when really I was in the camp the whole time. So you have no reason to be mad at me at all. And besides, by the look of things, you all bonded with each other. So my little escapade really brought our group closer," Lex explained.

"Oh Lex," Daley walked over to Lex and hugged him. "Don't ever do that again,"

"Okay Day,"

"Are you kidding me?" Eric whined. "The kid sends as on a wild goose chase and you give him a hug and a classic 'don't do that again'?"

"Eric stop whining and let's open this box," Taylor told him. Nathan caught Taylor's eye and smiled. Taylor gave him a look like 'shut up'. He registered that as her way of telling him to keep it a secret. Lex pulled the box out from under his legs as everybody crowded around him. They began to lift the lid off. When the got the lid off, they were shocked by what was in the box.

"Is that what I think it is?" Nathan asked.

Jackson slid the crowbar into the wood and began to pry the lid off. After a few minutes he managed to pry the lid off. He handed Melissa the crowbar and lifted the lid off. They stared down into crate. Jackson's face went blank as a ghost as Melissa dropped the crowbar. It hit the ground with a clank noise.

"What is it?" Melissa asked him.

"It's C4, explosives," Jackson and Lex both declared at the same time, both in different destinations.

**So how about that ending guys. I'm getting better at leaving you hanging and I love it. Now I just need to figure out how to explain all of this in the next chapter. I have some work ahead of me. Review it for me please!**


	7. Pink: Just Goes With the Fashion

_Hey guys, sorry it has been a long time since I put out a new chapter. I've been very busy with school and work. I have also had writers block for a while. But I have written out the main events for each chapter up till chapter 16, almost like a television show. I just have to fill in the blanks in between. Just so you know, chapter 16 isn't even close to the ending. If all my chapters are episode length in writing, then this is a pretty long story. Review, favourite, and enjoy. I like feedback so give me some. I'm not sure how many people still read fan fiction for this show, but I feel I must finish it. _

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything related to this show. The only thing I sort of own is the whole dream storyline. _

It was awkward. Everybody was just sitting there, not knowing what to say, not knowing what to do. The fact was, they were all in shock. No one expected any of this. They never expected to crash on an island that they believed up until now, was deserted. Well in their minds they hoped it wasn't, but only if the unknown people on the island were friendly. What they just discovered was not friendly at all. Now, all they were left with was fear, and worry for their other four companions that were off in the jungle, not knowing what to expect, not knowing that there may in fact be forces at work on the island that could harm them in the worst possible way. When explosions start happening all around them, they won't know what to do. They won't make it out alive.

As the remaining seven survivors, sat around the fire, pondering what their next move was, a painful being was close by, holding on to their dear life. It was almost as if, the survivors had forgotten that one of their companions had gotten separated from the other three. That was only weeks ago that they had last seen Abby. Now they were worried that she may not have made it to the other three safely.

I was in another world, far away from the island, but not at home. It was like if you were stuck in purgatory. I was in between reality and imagination. The very thought of the discovery scared me to a whole new end. We weren't alone on the island, it was obvious now. All those voices I had heard previously were coming from real people. They were watching me, all of us in fact. How do you deal with that idea when your last hope was finding a way to get off the island and hoping that you might find a safe entity on the island that could supposedly find you a way home? People that own and possibly could be using explosives on the island don't sound the least bit safe to me.

I was terrified just like everybody else. What we had found hit Jackson pretty hard though. The whole way back, I would try and make conversation and he would just shrug it off and tell me that we would discuss it with everybody when we got back to camp. Once we got back to camp though, the others went on this huge rant about a box of explosives they found buried in the sand. I thought that he would mention the explosives we found, but he just brushed it off and told them that they would discuss it in the morning. Only he hasn't once mentioned it. He had this glossy look on his face that made me really wonder if everything was alright with him. The attitude he had during our walk back, just continued on as we all sat by the fire. He has his hands clasped together and he was leaning forward staring into the fire, concentrating on only that. Everybody was just silent, and let me tell you, it was rather haunting. We weren't even this silent when we crashed here.

"So," Nathan began. He stopped to think about what he was going to say. Everybody, minus Jackson, turned to Nathan. "What does this mean?"

Everybody turned to look at Jackson, who still continued to concentrate on the fire, as if he didn't hear the world around him or realize he was a part of it. I watched his eyes slowly drift up from the fire to stare at Nathan across the fire pit from him. He pursed his lips together. He stared at Nathan as if he was looking inside of him and trying to figure him out. I didn't think that's what he was doing but you can never be too sure with Jackson. He finally broke his stare with Nathan and looked back at the fire.

"It means exactly how it sounds Nathan," Jackson looked to his side, at the direction of the ocean. "Many years ago, this island was clearly inhabited and the box of explosives that you guys discovered is a mere memory of what the people on this island were like," He got to his feet and stood there. "There is clearly nothing to worry about here as the box you found looks rather old. It can be assumed that the only thing that can harm us is ourselves as the inhabitants that were on this island are long gone by now. Therefore we can all go back to doing what ever we were doing before the box was found," He reached down beside one of the logs and grabbed a machete before walking off towards the jungle.

"Where are you going?" I yelled to him. I heard him yell something about cutting wood before his figure disappeared into the foliage of the trees.

"I don't know about you guys," Eric started. "But I think Jackson may have just flew off his rocker," I didn't want to agree with Eric, but it was hard not to as I still continued to stare at the direction Jackson went in; worried.

**Flight 29 Down: When All Hope Falls**

The nightlife was dawning in very slowly as the sun was preparing to go down. I was sitting by the fire doing my job of boiling the water to have for drinking. I looked out at the beauty of the sky as the sun painted colours across it, sighing at the fact that this was a moment meant to be watched with someone special. I was dwelling on the only name that came into my mind at the thought of this moment; Jackson. He still did not return yet from cutting up wood like he said he was, while everybody else had already returned or would return any moment now.

I glanced down at the bottle and funnel in my hand and then up at the sun on the horizon. I was debating it in my head. I assume he wants to be alone, but Jackson is known to do some pretty stupid stuff when he is pissed off. The memory of him leaving the camp in the rain flashed back into my mind. Back then I was able to calm him down and talk some sense into him and he did say earlier that if I wanted to talk, he would be willing to listen. Well maybe that rule applies to him too. Whether or not it does, I have made up my mind. I closed off the bottle I was working on and put it in the cooler. I put the funnel on top of the cooler and then ran in the direction of the route Jackson took earlier.

Just a little bit down the beach from camp, Taylor and Eric sat beside each other, watching the sun on the horizon. Eric snaked his arm around Taylor and pulled her closer to him. They sat there in silence, taking in the beauty of the afternoon sun and the close proximity of each other. Neither was fully used to being this close to the other as they are used to Eric pining for Taylor and Taylor taking advantage of that.

"This is kind of nice," Eric said. Taylor just gave Eric an awkward 'yeah'. Eric in turn made a hurt face. "You're not into this are you?" Taylor's head fell to look at her lap before she looked up to face Eric.

"I'm sorry, it's just …" Taylor stopped to think. "…in the past, every guy I've been with," Eric tensed at the mention of Taylor being with other guys, which she noticed. "I've done this many times before and it's just not as romantic anymore,"

Eric sighed and looked down at his lap.

"It's just," he took time to collect his thoughts. "I've wanted to do this for the longest time since-"

"-that time in gym class when I fainted and I was all sweaty, I know the story,"

"So does this mean you don't like romantic guys?" Eric asked, shyly.

Taylor moved out of Eric's grip to turn her body to face him. He looked slightly hurt but he tried to hide it.

"Look, romance is a wonderful thing, but it's also unique. You can't describe romance or explain it. You can only commit to it. It's all about making it your own," Eric stared at Taylor in awe at the fact that she just said something that wasn't like her. Eric watched as Taylor got to her feet and brushed any sand off of her clothing. She looked down at him, who was mildly confused and shocked all at once. "I still have some laundry to do, so," She gave him an awkward smile. "I'll talk to you later,"

With that, she walked away towards the camp. Eric took his hat off and ran his hands through his hair. He let out the breath he had been apparently holding in the whole time before placing his hat back on his head and staring out at the water. He gave a sad sigh as he continued to sit there; alone.

I ran, for what seemed like hours, but was only seven minutes. Well it was just an estimate, but I knew it hadn't been a long time. It felt familiar to yesterday when I was doing the same thing; looking for Jackson. I ran to the most obvious places that Jackson would go to cut wood. I was afraid to yell out his name; afraid they might hear me.

I had done a lot of thinking while boiling the water at the fire pit. Jackson lied to everyone. I don't know why he would though. What we found was serious and every one else found a box full of explosives too. So why keep it a secret? Does Jackson think that the two are unrelated like he said? Or is he trying to think of a better way to deal with the situation?

My thoughts suddenly faded away when I heard a voice near me. I slowly walked closer to the voice. As I got closer, the voice got clearer.

"So you think he's lying?" a second voice asked.

"I think that it's a possibility," the first voice said. It was easy to determine that it was a female speaking. You could tell from the whinny tone of voice. "He went off like a loose canon. He dealt with the situation in all the wrong ways. Then he gives us some island story and storms off into the jungle,"

They were talking about Jackson! The voice sounded familiar. The bossiness and know-it-all attitude all seemed recognizable too.

Daley.

I moved slowly through the bushes till I saw a familiar bush of dark hair. How could I not have known that the other person would be Nathan? They were collecting fruit from the ground and from alcoves between small cliffs.

"Do you think that he is, you know, hiding something?" Nathan asked as he picked up a guava from the ground.

"Between you and me," Daley looked up at Nathan as she moved a curl out of from the front of her face. "I have always been a bit hesitant about Jackson,"

I shifted a bit in the bushes. I felt this burn under my skin. It was an odd feeling that was very rare to me. Yet I found my self bothered by it and I don't know why.

"You and I both know how he was when the others voted him leader of the group. I think we can both agree that one of us should have won that election…" Daley continued. Nathan nodded his head in agreement to her last statement.

He was agreeing with her about this? Well, they both like to be in control. The burn started rising higher to the surface of my skin. I felt my fists clench.

"…and we've all seen the videos,"

What? Where was she going with this?

"I mean, if he lied about something like that that happened before the trip. What else is he lying about?"

There it was. Daley didn't trust Jackson at all. Not even after all that he has done for us as leader. Actually, in her eyes, he probably hasn't done much. I would have thought that she would have shed that bad image she had of him. I believed she did.

And there's Nathan, nodding his head in agreement like a love sick fool. Is he really that pathetic that he would agree with her and betray Jackson just to earn her respect? Maybe he already has. It seems like this has been going on for a while now. They disappear together more then Eric and Taylor do.

"I don't know Day," Daley's head shot up at his words. "Melissa seems to trust him a lot,"

Daley's mouth curved into a grin before she snorted. She chuckled and gave him a look like she didn't believe him.

"You can't be serious?" When Nathan continued to stare at Daley, she took it was her cue to continue. "Of course she is going to trust him; she has a huge crush on him,"

Melissa felt betrayed by Daley. Daley was gossiping about her and Jackson more then Taylor has. She honestly felt hurt by this. And by the looks of it, Daley and Nathan were becoming closer which could cause problems between Nathan and her.

"I mean, those two sneak off together more then Eric and Taylor do," Daley put her one hand on her hip. "I would not be surprised whatsoever if Jackson was secretly breaking his own no dating rule,"

"Mel isn't like that," Melissa couldn't help but smile. Love sick fool or not, Nathan still had her back.

"Nathan," Daley shouted, frustrated. She walked up to him and put her hand on his arm. His mouth opened a bit as he looked down at her hand on his arms. "Who knows what those two are really up to when they are off in the jungle. Jackson isn't so great at hiding discomfort, but Melissa is,"

Nathan shook Daley's hand off his arm in anger.

"Are you saying that you think Melissa is a liar?" Daley sighed.

"No what I'm saying is that," She licked her lip as she thought of he next words. She was clearly trying to choose them wisely in hopes that she wouldn't anger Nathan more. "Melissa lied to you, about that necklace. And she's been very ill lately. She isn't thinking straight, and I blame her excursions with Jackson out in the jungle,"

Daley grabbed Nathan's arm. She looked around in directions before pulling him over to the alcove between the cliffs. Her voice got lower and quieter. Melissa slipped her way through the foliage of the bushes to get closer. There was no way she would be able to hear their conversation clearly from further way. It's obvious that Daley wants to keep what she is saying to Nathan a secret.

"I think that Jackson and Melissa may have found something in the jungle yesterday,"

Nathan stared at Daley confused. "Wait, what?"

"It's obvious that Jackson's story doesn't add up. I mean, he was all quiet the entire time we were discussing the contents of the box. Then he suddenly disagrees and gets all flighty about it. Nathan, he's defiantly got some itch he can't scratch and I doubt it's from poison ivy. You and I know what is best for everyone. And I hate to say it, but if Jackson is keeping a secret, Melissa is also keeping that same secret which means that she can no longer be trusted,"

The moment the words came out of her mouth, my stomach dropped. Daley has betrayed me and Jackson and she was trying to get Nathan to.

I couldn't withhold my gasp. I felt myself feeling faint. I struggled to keep my balance but found myself stumbling. My body brushed against the foliage of the bushes. I watched as Nathan and Daley's head looked up and in my direction.

"Hello?" Nathan asked. "Is there somebody there?"

"It's probably Eric skulking around and spying again," Daley said, no surprise in her voice.

"Yeah, I wonder why he does it though."

"It's Eric," Daley shook her head. "Do we ever understand anything he does?"

"Good point," Nathan agreed, not even a doubt about it.

"Listen," Nathan's eyes meet her blue ones. "All I'm trying to get at is that there are changes that need to be made. And they won't happen unless I have somebody that agrees with me. I need to know that you'll back me up on this,"

"Yeah," He nodded his head. "Okay,"

"Really?" Daley looked hopeful.

"Totally," Nathan told her.

Daley's smile grew on her face. Nathan couldn't help but smile at her. Even though deep inside, he felt that teaming up with Daley could be a huge mistake.

Eric trotted up miserably to where Lex was currently inventing something. He sat down on the wing of the plane with such force that Lex looked up. He rolled his eyes and continued working.

"Tough day?" the eleven year old boy asked, eyes not glancing up at all.

"Like you know what a tough day is?" Eric muttered under his breath. Lex seemed to hear it as he looked up annoyed.

"Considering that I may have a higher IQ then you, yes I would know what a tough day is," Lex snapped back. Eric sighed.

"Okay yeah, I've had a tough day," Eric threw his arms up in defeat. "Big deal! Nothing you can do about it,"

Lex stared at Eric. Eric just sat there like he normally does. But from the way he bit his lips in frustration and squinted his eyes, you could tell that something was actually bothering him. He looked weak, and more importantly upset. You hardly ever see Eric upset. He's always goofing off or making snarky remarks to people to get them to do his chores for him. Lex knew right then and there that this was serious. Or at least serious to Eric.

Lex put his pliers down on the table. He walked around it to the other side and leaned on the table. He crossed his arms and continued to stare at Eric. Eric sensed his eyes on him and looked up.

"What?" he asked confused.

"You know I can't help you if you don't let me know what is bothering you," Lex reminded Eric.

"Okay," Eric began "Let's say I like this girl."

"Taylor," Lex answered right away.

Lex didn't even have to think about who Eric might like. It has been obvious from the start. He sticks to her like a leech.

Eric processed what Lex said but chose to ignore it. Lex rolled his eyes at Eric's choice.

"And let's just say that this girl is pretty awesome and-"

Lex began coughing into his hands. Eric could have sworn he heard the young boy utter Taylor's name in his cough somewhere. Eric just stared at Lex suspiciously and continued.

"-she can surprise you sometimes. In ways you wouldn't expect. She always seems to know how to-"

"Come off more intelligent then you think? I know," Lex interrupted for the third time.

"Can you stop?" Eric didn't sound angry, just frustrated.

"Stop what?" Lex asked innocently.

"Stop assuming that I'm talking about Taylor,"

"But I know your talking about Taylor. Eric, the whole island knows,"

Eric squinted his eyes more than earlier. He mouthed the word 'what' in annoyance.

"Okay maybe not the whole island, but you didn't think that everybody wouldn't have some sort of suspicion about you and Taylor did you?"

Eric sighed in defeat and fidgeted on the wing of the plane.

"Who else knows?" Eric asked in a serious voice. He held his head down.

"To be honest," Lex started "I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that has any idea about it. I mean, my sister and Nathan are too busy trying to take over the island and you know Melissa and Jackson. Their always off doing who knows what," Lex began fidgeting against the table awkwardly. He looked like he was about to say something but changed his mind. "Look, I promise I won't say anything about this to the others,"

Eric looked up at Lex. His eyes had a glossy look to them.

"Thank you," he mumbled.

"And I'll help you, I mean if you want me too," Lex requested. The other boy just nodded his head. "Alright, well first you have to tell me what happened,"

I continued to walk through the forest. I got away before they caught me. Before they caught me eavesdropping on them. Eavesdropping on them about their plan. The very thought of Daley manipulating Nathan made my stomach feel worse. She was manipulating my best friend. Or was he? Was Nathan still my best friend? We haven't talked in a while now. I've always been with Jackson. That in turn left Nathan out. That then explains why Nathan straggled over to Daley like a wounded animal.

I left my best friend to stand there and watch me walk away with his replacement. Oh, my, gosh! What have I done? I may have created the idea for Daley to turn Nathan into a monster. A lovesick monster that will do whatever she asks of him because he has feelings for her and she knows it. Wait, she knows it!

She knows that Nathan has feelings for her and she is using it to advantage over Jackson and everyone else. She's trying to overthrow Jackson as leader by slowly collecting followers to vote for her in her secret election. I would be her next target if it weren't for the fact that she knows I would choose Jackson over her right now. That means that her next target is somebody who is closer to her. Somebody who is younger then her but can still keep up with what she is doing. Lex.

This is not good. How is it possible that Daley would be the one to replace Taylor as the one most likely to stab you in the back? She's a power hungry human being, but to use dirty politics as her strategy to overthrow Jackson is just wrong.

I stumbled through the jungle with my hands on my arms, holding them for warmth and for comfort. I felt shaken by all of this information. I wouldn't imagine one of my friends doing this.

Melissa, too caught up in her thoughts, didn't notice Jackson walking past her. He stopped and turned around, noticing her obvious discomfort. She didn't hear him call her name until the second time. She then stopped and her eyes widened in realization of Jackson's presence. She turned around, hands still on her arms, to face the boy she had been looking for previously. He looked at her with a look of worry in his eyes. He must have calmed down and thought about some ideas during his trek through the jungle. His eyes said it all; he was back to his normal caring self.

Melissa stood there, looking around at everything before looking up at him. He began strolling over to her, a hatchet in his hand. It seemed like something right out of a horror story. But Melissa knew Jackson. She shook that idea out of her head and replaced it with the idea of protection. But that didn't stop her eyes from wondering down to the weapon in his hand. Daley's gotten to her head. He noticed where her eyes went.

"I like to cut wood when I'm stressed out," he told her. She shook her head of her previous thoughts. Before Jackson could ask her what was wrong, she spoke up.

"What are you stressed about?"

He licked his bottom lip before answering; trying to think of how to tell her.

"Melissa," he stopped and thought again. "What we found…was something best kept a secret,"

Melissa squinted her eyes in confusion and non-understanding.

"Why?"

He took in a big breath before responding.

"Because, what we found was something huge! I want the others to think that what they found in that box was nothing recent. If they all believe that there is a possibility that there is more human life on this island that could in fact be dangerous, they are going to panic and I don't want that. I don't think you do either,"

"So the solution is to lie to them?" Melissa snapped.

"No, the solution is to keep them in the dark about this until I figure it out. We really need to work together as a group to survive. And in case you haven't noticed, everybody is off doing their own stuff,"

"Isn't that what we're doing?" Melissa asked.

"Melissa-"

"No," Melissa looked hurt. "Jackson, you're the leader of the group. Like you said, the group is dividing up and it shouldn't be like this. What kind of example are me and you setting for the others when we are off trying to figure out whatever it is were trying to figure out. You have to bring everybody back together,"

"But it's not that difficult,"

"Yes it is," Melissa told him.

Jackson looked at her without understanding. He was trying to figure out what she was talking about.

"Daley is trying to overthrow you as leader and she has Nathan helping her,"

"When did this happen?"

"A few minutes ago," Melissa sighed. "Jackson, Daley has potential to be a great leader and if she has Nathan helping her, you position as leader will be gone by tomorrow," She stepped closer to Jackson and placed her hand on his arm. He didn't shake it off. "I believe that you can get us off this island. But you can't lead your sheep if you don't know where you leading them too. They need you to understand them. They need to trust you. Daley doesn't trust you. Ever since we all saw that video diary,"

Jackson looked down at the ground and sighed.

"Maybe, I should just give up the position to her," Jackson admitted.

"What?" Melissa snapped.

"Well, you said it yourself. If Daley is trying to overthrow me and Nathan is helping her, there's no point on fighting back,"

"Yes there is," Melissa grabbed his arms again. He shook them off.

"No there isn't, I didn't sign up for this Mel. I can't lead anybody. What you guys saw on that video," he pointed towards camp. How he knew where it was, was beyond Melissa. "That is who I am. Not this extraordinary guy you look up to. Melissa it's about time you shook your head of all these feelings you have and embrace reality,"

Melissa looked at him in disbelief. Her eyes began to gloss over. She shook her head as she began slowly stepping back. Jackson noticed what she was doing.

"Melissa, I-"

"No, just don't," She muttered before running off.

Jackson stood there and sighed. He stared at the direction she ran off into. He then grunted as he slammed his hatchet into a nearby tree.

Eric and Lex stood behind a tree and a few bushes as the watched Taylor. She was doing the laundry and humming to herself.

"So you think this is going to work?" Eric asked.

"It should," Lex concentrated on Taylor. "From anything I learned about girls from my sister, girls love it when a guy shows he cares. It makes them feel special," Lex explained. Eric nodded his head.

"Alright, I got this," Eric said before walking out from behind the tree. Lex grabbed him back with his hand. "Hey! What's the big deal?"

Eric yelped so loud that Taylor looked in their direction.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Taylor's high pitched voice yelled.

"Remember, show you care," Lex reminded him again.

"I got it squirt," Eric whined.

He emerged from the trees. Lex shook his head in disbelief. The boy still calls him names even after he helps him. He had a feeling that this was going to end badly.

"Hey Taylor," Eric greeted the confused girl.

He rubbed the back of his neck as he walked up to her. Taylor looked confusedly at Eric as he stood in front of her.

"Eric?" She asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Same as you," Eric stated. "Crashed on an island and-"

"No, I mean what are you doing here, here?"

Lex just shook his head in second hand embarrassment from his spot behind the tree. If he knew that he would be suffering like this, he wouldn't have volunteered to help. He was trying to restrain himself from marching out there and asking Taylor herself why she won't just cut the guy some slack.

"Oh right," Eric fumbled. "Uhm…ugh,"

He continued to rub the back of his neck in thought. Taylor continued to look confused and now annoyed.

Lex sighed. It was painful to watch for the young boy. He couldn't understand how he could already forget why he was here. It was just a few seconds ago.

"Look Eric, I need to get this laundry done. And if-"

"Hey do you want some help?' Eric interrupted, now remembering.

"Uh," Taylor contemplating whether she should agree or not.

"Come on," Eric got down on his knees and took the article of clothing from her wet hands. "I can totally do this,"

"Are you sure? I mean you don't really cross me as a boy that would-"

"Pfft," Eric rolled his eyes. "I know how to do laundry. My mom taught me when I was nine. You don't have to worry about it,"

Taylor looked hesitantly at Eric. He gave her a smile and raised his eyebrow.

"Okay," She nodded her head. "Just make sure you don't wash the whites with the colours and hang everything up so it doesn't wrinkle,"

They both got to their feet. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks Eric,"

He watched her walk away before turning to look at Lex. He gave him a big grin and thumbs up. Lex repeated the same with less enthusiasm.

The tears were streaming down my face as I sat on fallen tree log. It's beginning to seem like everybody I count on is just giving up on me. It's like they don't care enough to listen to what I'm telling them. Don't they understand I'm trying to help? I'm not doing this to advantage myself. It's like I want to be invisible because they treat me that way sometimes, but I can't

I can't believe this is happening to us. Why us? Why did our plane have to crash of all the planes? It might have been better off if we just died instead of having to sit here on this island, not knowing when were going to be rescued. I don't know how much more I can take being here.

Everywhere I turn is chaos. Jackson doesn't see it. It's too late to stop Daley. But it's not like Jackson to just give up. I mean he's been acting strange lately. I wish I knew how to figure him out, but he just won't let me. A leader doesn't keep his people in the dark. He's honest right from the start. Maybe he's right when he says that he should just give up.

"Melissa," a voice rang from behind me.

I turned to see Nathan making his way through the bushes. I was about to smile, then I saw Daley and turned back around.

"I'll catch up with you at camp," I heard Nathan tell her.

Daley's footsteps faded away as I felt the weight on the log beside me.

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

"It's fine," But it really wasn't and he knew that.

He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me towards him.

"Come on Mel," He smiled. "You know you can tell me anything,"

No I can't. I want to, but I can't. You don't get it. Or maybe you do?

"What's going on between you and Daley?" I asked, wiping my tears from my eyes.

"Nothing," He shrugged his shoulders. "Just went to get some fruit,"

"That's all that is happening?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering," We sat there in silence for what felt like a minute. "You know, if there is something going on between you two, you can tell me?"

"And you know that if there is something going on between you and Jackson then you can tell me?" I just nodded my head.

It was ironic. Two best friends, sitting there, tell each other that they can tell each other anything. But yet, not telling the other what they are hiding. Some friendship.

Jackson walked up to the camp, his hatchet in hand. He dropped it in the sand beside a chair. He then walked over to Lex. Remembering what Melissa said.

"Hey" He nodded his head towards the papers on the table. "What are working on?"

Lex looked up at Jackson and smiled.

"I'm sketching out plans for some shelters I had in mind,"

"Shelters huh?" He walked over to the other side of the table and leaned down on it to get a better look at the sketches. "

"I think we need another one. It's getting kid of stuffy in the plane,"

Jackson sucked his bottom lip and raised his eyebrows in understanding.

"It sounds like a good idea man," Lex looked up at him. "I'd like to see the sketches when their done,"

The young boy stared at him. He looked down at Jackson's skin that happened to be sweating and dirty. He could look in the blue eyes of the leader and see what was behind his mask.

"Jackson," Lex put his sketching utensil down. "What happened?"

Jackson just shrugged.

"Nothing. Why?"

"You just don't look yourself like after you chop wood," Jackson was amazed that the young boy knew about his cooling down method. But he didn't show an expression of surprise. "Which makes me think something happened?"

Jackson sighed and leaned off the table.

"Melissa and I got into a fight in the jungle,"

"What was it concerning?" The young boy's eyes sparked curiosity.

"She seems to have it in her head that your sister is planning something with Nathan,"

"Planning what?" Lex said with such concern it made Jackson wonder if something was really wrong.

"I don't know," He turned away from the boy and then back to him. "Something about taking over my position as leader,"

"She's unbelievable," Lex stated with a hint of disgust in his voice.

"Yeah, I just don't know what Nathan has to do with all of this though?"

"So what did you two fight about?"

Jackson sat on the end of the table.

"She thinks that I should stay leader and not give up,"

"Well why would you?"

"Because I don't think that I'm the right guy for the job," He shook his head.

"We voted you Jackson, not Daley. If we didn't think you were right for the job, we would have voted for her or Nathan. Melissa's right, you can't give up so easily,"

"I just don't know what to do. Everyone is dividing into their own paths. Daley is already one step ahead of me on this,"

"Because you're not trying. My sister is going to try and get people to be on her side. But she can't tell everybody about this amazing problem in the group if you can figure out a way to solve it. It's time for you to lead instead of running away,"

There was a silence. Jackson chuckled.

"Melissa said something along the lines of that too," Lex nodded.

"Maybe you should start listening to Melissa when she tries to help you. She's doing it because she cares," The boy then went back to sketching.

Jackson leaned against the table and sighed in defeat.

Daley walked up the hill of sand. She was carrying a pile of fruit wrapped up. She was almost at the camp when she noticed Eric hanging up clothing. She began to walk over.

Eric looked at the pink shirt hanging in front of him. Daley was going to kill him when she sees this. He heard someone walking behind him. He spun around and saw Daley walking over carrying fruit.

If Daley sees the pink shirt, she will be angrier at him then Taylor would. He jumped in front and tried to cover her shirt up. He knew it was no use.

"Hey Eric," She looked around the laundry area. "What are you doing here?" she scrunched up her nose in confusion.

"Oh you know," He began using hand gestures to help him get across what he was trying to say. "Just doing some laundry,"

"Where's Taylor?" Her eyes told him that she was suspicious. "She usually washes all our clothes,"

"She wasn't…you know?" He knew he was screwed. "Feeling very well. Stomach flu I believe," He put his hand on his stomach. "She went to go lie down at camp. So I offered to do the laundry,"

"Eric," Eric was for sure that Daley was going to snap. So imagine his confusion when she began smiling. "That's sweet and so unlike you,"

"Well what can I say," He shrugged. "I have my moments,"

"Well keep up the good work!"

Eric then watched her walk off. When he was sure she was far enough away, he let out the breath he had been holding in. He began fanning his head with his hat as he looked at the pink disaster.

He was so screwed.

Daley dropped the fruit into the cooler. She pulled out a bottle of water and began drinking. All of a sudden she spit it out. The water tasted grungy. It wasn't properly boiled and filtered. Daley looked down at the water station. Melissa was absent. Daley felt herself getting frustrated. First she doesn't clean the water properly, than she just runs off. What was wrong with that girl?

Daley looked over where Lex was and saw Jackson walking towards her. The very person she needed to talk to. She was fuming.

She barged up to him, water bottle in hand. She shoved the water bottle into his hand.

"Drink this!" She commanded him. She was going to manually pour it down his throat if he didn't drink it.

To her surprise, Jackson obliged. He took a hesitant sip of the water. Her mouth opened as she gapped as he nonchalantly swallowed the water. Then inhaled and exhaled his breath.

"Trying to poison me Marin?" he asked; a cold tone.

"Now what would give you that idea?" Daley asked in an obviously innocent way.

"Oh, I don't know," He looked away and then back to her. "I mean, your already trying to knock me out of my place as leader,"

Daley looked taken back by this. Daley only mentioned this to Nathan. Was it Jackson who overheard her and Nathan talking?

"You," Daley took a step forward. "You're the one was eavesdropping on my and Nathan, aren't you?"

"I actually-"

If he told Daley that he overheard and not Melissa, then he would be lying which is the total opposite of what he wants to do. _They need you to understand them. They need to trust you. _But if he told the truth, then he would be creating conflict for Melissa and Nathan, not to mention Daley would be pissed. What to do?

"You?" Daley asked.

Jackson looked around for an escape. Then he laid eyes on Taylor coming out of the girl's tent with a magazine.

"I think you should go talk to Taylor about her lack of doing something productive,"

Jackson looked over Daley's head at Taylor and nodded in her direction. Daley turned to look where he was looking.

"But Jackson," Daley turned back around to him. "You're the-"

Jackson was no where to be seen.

Daley sighed and blew her curl out of her face.

Melissa lied on her stomach in the tent. She was trying to sketch out the building that she seen in her vision. If only she could remember what it looks like. She glanced over at the growing pile of paper balls. She sighed and began flipping through her book. She stopped at a picture that she drew of Jackson.

Jackson. He was one of the few people she knew she could count on here on the island. He always seemed to give off the feeling that he cared about her. Sometimes as more then just a friend. More then just someone to talk to who you know will listen. Is that all she was? Someone to talk to because of her obvious feelings for him? Maybe he's right. These feelings she has for him could be clouding her judgement.

But she refuses to think about it right now. She knows that he is a good leader. He just needs to see it for himself. He is so much better then Daley.

"Eric told me that you had a stomach flu," Daley's loud obnoxious voice rang through the air outside the tent.

"I don't, so I don't know why he would tell you that,"

Her idea of solving a problem is by yelling about it. Hostility never solved any thing in life; it just made it worse. You would think that she would realize that no one bothers to listen or at the least bit care what she is trying to say when she yells about it.

Melissa tried sketching the oil drum outside of the building in her vision. Or was it crates. She couldn't remember. It was all just a forgotten memory to her. She couldn't concentrate.

"It's so typical for you to hand your job off to someone else to do,"

She couldn't think straight. Not with all this yelling outside of the tent. She grabbed her sketch book and sketching utensil, leaving the tent, she stepped out into the sunlight.

Nathan was trying to break up the argument between Taylor and Daley. She could see Lex rolling his eyes as he walked past them.

She made her way into the jungle and away from the chaos of the camp. She took this time to clear her head of any ideas that could be clogging her mind and blocking her vision. She tried to remember the vision.

She remembered waking up on the jungle floor in the middle of the jungle. She was confused because she didn't know where she was. Then…she…what happened next?

She stepped across a clutter of small pebbles on the jungle floor. Melissa loved walking to her favourite spot because it was so tranquil. She stepped across the small creek that trickled through the small rocks. Then she began walking on the small dirt path again.

The music. That was what she heard next. She remembered hearing a soft classical piano piece drifting among the trees of the jungle. She remembered it being memorizing to her as she strolled through the jungle. Then she…she didn't remember again. No, she woke up in her tent first then there was another flash and she woke up beside the music box.

She arrived at the giant bamboo stocks. She loved coming here because they were like a maze. One could find themselves turning down a certain path and end up in a dead end. They were similar to corn stocks in a corn field. She enjoyed coming to this area to draw, write, or just think. It was always quiet here. Even though she was alone here, she never felt that way. She just felt comfort.

There were multiple flashes. They were of visions she had never seen before. Amongst them was the building one. It must have lasted five to eight seconds in length. She remembered it being a dark olive green. It was a dirty building. The windows were broken or boarded up. The grass was overgrowing on the side of the building. There may have been a small wood box on the side. Or was it a cellar door?

She took a seat at her favourite rock in between the bamboo. She flipped to her previous page and began sketching.

She knew she would remember as she went along. Once she got the main building down, then she would worry about the tiny details; the parts that mattered, the parts she couldn't remember right.

"Have you guys got it all out yet?" Nathan asked, each of his hands on the girl's shoulders as he prevented them from going at each other again.

"Ask Daley," Taylor crossed her arms. "She's the one that started yelling at me,"

"Because you gave your chores away to Eric to do knowing he would do it because he likes you,"

"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black,"

"Excuse me," Nathan shifted with Taylor's comment. "What is that supposed to mean?" Daley asked.

"It's obvious Daley. Everyone knows you boss Nathan around like your lap dog,"

"Whoa!" Nathan put his hands up in protest. "I'm not anybody's lap dog,"

"I didn't tell Eric to do the laundry for me, he offered," Taylor stated.

"Then you should have told him no," Daley snapped.

"Ladies," Nathan said.

Nathan put his hands on both their shoulders again, but Daley shrugged his off.

"No Nathan," Daley snapped. "Things need to change around here. If Jackson won't make those changes happen, then I will,"

Daley then stormed off towards the laundry station. Taylor and Nathan looked at each other before running after her.

All was quiet in between the bamboo fields. Melissa felt safe, surrounded by the bamboo poles around her. She continued to sketch on her pad of paper with the charcoal she got from the fire pit. A strand of her long dark hair fell in front of her face. As she moved it away a smudge of charcoal rubbed off from her finger and on to her cheek. She didn't notice though.

She was trying so hard to remember this building because she knew it was an actual destination on the island. It was a place of importance. She just knew that this building could be their escape of this island. She would know the building if she saw it. But she couldn't remember much of it. As hard as she tried, she always forgot a certain detail she might have remembered on her previous sketch. She wished she could remember. She wished Jackson was here to help her. She wished that Nathan was here to talk to about this.

She and Nathan used to be best friends. Melissa liked to think they still were, but even she knew that something was missing. There was a thorn in between their friendship that kept getting jabbed in further. She couldn't help but wonder if he had just as many secrets as she did; just as many secrets that pushed the thorn further.

Melissa sighed as she shut her eyes. She tried to imagine her life back home. Her and Nathan hanging out at the picnic tables at lunch, Taylor sitting there complaining about some popular girl on the cheerleading team, Daley trying to force people in to voting for her. She could even remember Eric walking around with his friends trying to cause trouble. Then there was Jackson.

She could barely remember parts of her high school life but she could remember every moment that involved him. She could remember the first time that he showed that he didn't care what people thought of him.

Crunch!

She heard it outside of her bamboo walls. It was getting closer. Her breathing picked up. She began to collect her items she brought with her just in case she had to run away. She was far from the camp so any chance of anybody hearing her would be very few. Wait, why was she so scared that someone on the island would harm her? Besides the explosives in the cave and the necklaces, they have never actually witnessed any human life on the island.

Snap!

The sound of branches breaking as somebody roughly walked across them. Melissa's breath caught in her throat. The person was a few feet from the opening to the alcove she was in. If she ran out of now, they would catch her. Why didn't she run out earlier?

Then the figure stepped into the light of the opening. Their silhouette was the only thing that could be seen in the light. Melissa tried not to flinch. The person stepped closer and out of the light. The apologetic and caring face of Jackson came into view. Melissa sighed in relief.

Jackson walked forward towards her and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. Melissa didn't feel like fighting back. She knew that this was Jackson's way of apologizing. So she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his chest.

When he released from the hug he stared at her. A smile was playing on the corner of his lip. His finger slipped onto her cheek. Melissa thought it was a caring gesture until he chuckled.

"I would like to know how you managed to get charcoal on your face," Jackson smiled.

Melissa's eyes widened and her cheeks blushed red. She turned her back to him and began to wipe away at her face. Then she stopped, back still turned to him.

"Did you just come here to apologize?" Melissa asked in a serious tone.

"No," Jackson looked down at the ground then back up at Melissa's figure. "I also came to tell you that you're right,"

Melissa didn't answer right away. Jackson assumed that she was trying to think about what he was talking about.

"About?" Melissa asked before walking back over to the rock she was sitting on earlier.

Jackson walked over to her slowly.

"About me not giving up," She looked up at him. "About me actually trying to be a leader,"

"I never said that you weren't trying to be a leader,"

"I know you didn't," Jackson squatted down on his knees in front of her. "But you should have. I was a huge jerk earlier. What I said, I wish I could take it back. Your right when you say that I need the others to trust me. Because if they don't trust me as their leader, then they won't listen to anything I say. And we really do need to work together to survive and get rescued. Lex was right when he told me that I should listen to you. Because you do care," He paused. "You the only person on this island that actually has faith in me,"

"Lex has faith in you,"

"Yeah he does," He looked down and shook his head. "But that's all I have Mel; you and Lex. Two people who are willing to listen to me,"

"If you continue to have that attitude, then that's all you're going to have. I want to help you, but you really need to listen to me when I have something to say,"

Jackson nodded his head in understanding and agreement.

"And be honest with everyone. Especially with me," Melissa finished.

"Even if it hurts?" Jackson asked.

"Even if it hurts," Melissa confirmed.

Jackson nodded his head in understanding. He looked down at the ground again.

"Jackson," Melissa muttered, barley hear able.

Jackson snapped his head up to look at her, the glossy look in his eyes. Melissa looked into them and got the answer she was looking for. No question was needed.

"Never mind," she assured him. She smiled at him and he began to smile back.

"You want to go back to camp with me?" Jackson asked.

"Sure," Melissa answered as she nodded her head.

They both got to their feet and walked out between the bamboo stocks. The dawn sun hit their whole body, leaving an imprint on them of cool warmth. Melissa looked around at the open area.

The wildflowers grew in groups among the tall grass. The sounds of insects crawling around in their nature's city could be heard in the open air. Some parts of the ground were dried up dirt but the rest of it was patches of lush healthy grass. The sky above them was turning to a mixture of purple, orange and pink. The clouds made it look like carnival cotton candy. Melissa could sure go for some right now.

A slight draft fluttered through the leaves of the trees around them. Melissa looked around as the wind made it look like the trees were doing the wave in a pattern. Then her eyes dropped down to an area in one of the trees. There was a collection of navy blue amongst the darkness between the trees. Attached to the blue was the peach coloured skin of a face. There was someone watching them.

"You coming?" Jackson's voice entered her ears and caused her to look at him.

She nodded and made a noise to signify that she was. She turned back to look in the area she was previously looking at. The person was gone. Or was he real to begin with? Melissa passed if off as a hallucination to comfort herself as she followed Jackson back to camp.

"Your sisters going to kill me," Eric whined.

Both he and Lex stood in front of the pink shirt. Eric got Lex to come help him figure out what to do because he knew that Lex was smart. He watched as Lex observed the shirt contemplating on what to do about it. Eric tried to mimic what the other boy was doing.

"She won't if she doesn't know," Lex reassured him.

"Yeah, until she sees this pink infestation,"

"It's not that bad," Lex looked at Eric. "I can figure out what to do. I'll just need some time,"

"Some time," Eric repeated. "We don't have some time. Daley's going to notice and she's going to have my head on a stick like in _Lord of the Rings_,"

"I think you mean _Lord of the Flies_," Lex corrected the boy.

"Yeah, that too,"

Lex shook his head in disbelief at the stupidity of the older boy.

"Eric!" Daley's loud shriek sounded from the camp.

Eric stayed glued to his spot on the sand, stiff as a board. Both of the young boys knew what was about to happen. They both slowly turned around to see Daley marching up to them, her face almost as red as her hair. Nathan and Taylor trailed behind her.

All Eric could muster out was "Oh crap,"

Daley stopped right beside the boy whose mouth was still a gap.

"I would like to know-" Daley began.

Her eyes drifted over to the pink clothing hanging to dry. She tried to find her words as Eric closed his eyes and sighed.

"What…is…that?" Daley asked, pointing at the clothing.

Nathan and Taylor shared the same expression of shock.

"Did you seriously dye my white shirt pink?" Daley asked.

Eric didn't know what to say. His mouth was trying to find words. He glanced down at Lex beside him. Lex looked up at him and sighed before turning to look at Daley.

Taking a step towards his sister, he said "Day, I have this under control,"

"No, you don't Lex," Daley started. "Things are not under control around here. People are slacking off, forcing their jobs on to others, and not putting in enough effort. Guys, we need to try harder,"

"No, what you need to do is lay off our backs," Eric snapped back. "You're not the leader, Jackson is. And were all tired of your complaining and whining about how were not doing enough around here,"

"Doing enough," Daley looked surprised. "You can't be seriously trying to provide a valid argument with that. You can't even wash clothes properly. I have no clue why Taylor would throw her job to you of all people,"

"Daley, don't you think that this is unnecessary?" Nathan stated.

Daley turned to look at Nathan. She stepped towards him.

"I thought you were on my team?" She muttered to him.

"I am, but, " He looked away from her. "You're just coming off very bossy right now,"

"Bossy?" Daley repeated. "You think I'm bossy?"

"Kind of," Taylor answered gaining a few mutters from the three guys.

Daley grinned at them all.

"You haven't seen anything yet," She warned.

Melissa and Jackson walked out of the forest and up to the group. Their eyes landed on the pink, but neither decided to ask about it.

"What's going on here?" Jackson questioned the five.

"Daley's going on one of her power tripping marches," Eric answered.

"With good reason," Daley pointed behind her to the shirt. "Do you see what he did to my shirt?"

"I do have eyes Daley," He shook his head. "But this is not the way to deal with this problem,"

"Oh, and I suppose you know what is?" Daley snapped. "Last time I checked, you've been doing such a great job of dealing with the problems here. You're too busy off frolicking in the jungle with Melissa," She snorted after her comment.

Melissa wanted to retort back but she was too in outer shock to respond, although she didn't need to.

"Daley that is enough," Nathan piped up from his spot beside Taylor.

"No, keeping going," Eric chuckled. "I'm enjoying this,"

"Of course you are," Daley snorted. "All the attention is off of you now. I hope you don't mind me putting it back on you,"

"Day, you're out of line," Lex spoke up.

"No, I'm just trying to do what's best for all of us," Daley responded.

At that comment, everybody began arguing with each other, mostly against Daley though. Jackson watched them all and shook his head.

I stood and watched them arguing. Jackson and I were the only ones not a part of it. Jackson did not look at me at all. He stared, focused on the group. I watched his stern face. Then his eyebrows curved inward and his mouth turned to a scowl. Before I knew it, he was shouting. He shouted at the others to stop. It was the loudest I had ever heard him raise his voice. But it worked, as the five others stopped arguing and turned to look at him.

"Guys," He said. "Is this really necessary? Fighting all the time? Look, I know that I haven't been acting like the proper leader you guys need, but I'm no going to apologize for that. In all honesty, yes I am your leader, but I don't take responsibilities for any of your actions. I will help you make it right, but I'm not going to do the work for you..."

His voice began to fade out, as if someone was turning down the volume on his speech. Everything around me began to filter into bight neon colours. I could still hear his voice, but barely. Everything around me got brighter to the point of a glow outlining my fellow survivors. Their faces became harder to distinguish as the glow brightened. They all continued to stare at Jackson, whose voice could not be heard anymore. I began heaving faster as my whole body felt flushed. There was a prickly pain flowing from my hips to my chest. My neck began to burn as the pain shot through it.

What is going on? Why do I feel like I'm in a furnace?

I thought my knees were going to give out. I was beginning to worry if anybody else noticed this happening. Even if they did, I couldn't hear anybody anymore. My nose scrunched up in pain as I closed my eyes tight. I felt like my head was going to explode. There was a rumbling sound around me combined with the distant sound of an alarm. Then when I thought it wouldn't end, there was a whoosh noise as I was eclipsed by the bright light.

"…I will help you make it right, but I'm not going to do the work for you. We are all capable of staying alive if we work together. Fighting is only driving us a part…"

To be honest, I tired to listen, but the whole time he opened his mouth, I couldn't help but think 'Wow, this guy has big feminine lips'. And everything that came out of those pouty lips was nothing to say the least what I have been saying for the last couple days. We need to work together. Things need to change around here. Were all fighting too much! Blah, blah, blah. He just rants on and on which is easy to say because his lips are like the perfect design for somebody that can say one hundred words a minute. I find it hard to believe that just weeks ago, Jackson was mute. I secretly wish he would have stayed that way. I blame it on control. You give power to anything that isn't meant to have it, your going to have problems. And boy did we ever have a problem. This kid might be street smart, but I'm intelligent smart and that's better then any other form of smart regardless of what people might tell you. I mean look at the guy.

I looked up from his moving lips to his full face. I shook my head.

What a total badass. I mean who does he think he is? Crashing onto this island and taking over my position as leader. I'm class president for god's sake. I didn't work my but off for weeks only to have it taken away by Eminem over here. He may have helped us find the lost money for the trip, but it doesn't excuse his shady behaviour. I still don't trust a word that he says, even if I've been saying the same things as him.

I looked around at everybody else. They all appeared to be listening to Jackson. Nathan had a serious look on his face. He just nodded his head when he felt it was needed. Lex looked pissed off, assuming it was my doing. I don't understand why my brother doesn't choose to take my side half the time. Sometimes I wonder if he would have preferred a step brother rather then a step sister. Taylor actually looked worried. It wasn't her usual worried look that a child has when they knew they broke something they shouldn't have. Her worried look was genuine, like she had some how matured and understood the full effects of the situation. Eric had the worried look that a child has when he knows he broke something he shouldn't have. Then my eyes landed on Melissa.

It was no surprise that she was standing at his side. It was like he was the president and she was the first lady. She supported him no matter what he said, regardless of if she knew it was right or wrong. She was the girl that stared up at the guy she crushed on, smitten, thinking he could do no wrong. Only she wasn't doing exactly that. In fact, she was paying no attention to Jackson at all. It was like she was tuning him out. My first conclusion was that she knew something that only her and Jackson knew, but she didn't look guilty. She scrunched up her nose and closed her eyes tightly, as if she was in pain. What could possibly be bothering her so much for her to act this way.

My eyes darted around the group to see if anyone else was noticing what I was. Nobody seemed to notice Melissa's obvious discomfort. I thought that Nathan or even Jackson might have noticed, but their mind was still on the same topic. Melissa, Lex and I were the only ones not adding on to the conversation. I looked at Lex. His eyes weren't on Nathan, who was currently speaking. Such bad manners, did our mother not teach him that its rude to not look at someone when they speak. Then I followed his eyes. They were focused on Jackson or Melissa. I glanced at my young brother, trying to read what his eyes were saying. His eyes lost concentration with whoever he was looking at. I watched as his eyes rolled to the side to look at me. Then as fast as they rolled to look at me, they rolled to stare at Nathan.

"So how are we going to deal with the pink clothing?" Nathan asked.

"I have it under control," Lex spoke up. Nathan nodded his head in understanding.

I glanced over at Melissa who was looking at Lex now. Then her attention was on the next person who spoke. It was like she never spaced out in the first place.

Eric was by the tide pools, trying to skip stones in the water. Sometimes he threw the stone too hard and it just sunk in the water. Other times he grabbed a rock that was to clunky or heavy. Eric knew which type of rocks were the ones you skipped with. They were the flat ones that got the most distance.

He sighed. It was practically night time or at least getting there. It felt like the longest day of his life so far. No matter what he did, he always seemed to mess up. He tried so hard to prove to everyone that he wasn't just a waste of space. He tried to prove to Taylor that. Now she is probably re-thinking her decision of dating him. He wouldn't blame her. He's just a sneaky goofy boy who wants what he can't have.

"I guess I'm just going to have to get used to seeing her around and knowing what I lost," He mutters to himself.

He sighs as he looks down and picks up another rock. He throws it and it sinks. He doesn't notice Taylor walking through the sand in his direction. Her blonde curl blew in front of her face. Her hair was back in a hair band like it usually is. He looked up at her and noticed her presence. She was wearing her lime green tank top and her shorts. He sighed knowing that this was the last time he would ever have her.

When she reached Eric, she stopped in the sand. Her hands found their way into her pockets. Her leg was crossed in front of the other. She stared at him. At first he didn't look at her, continuing to skip rocks. He looked at her and then back towards the water. He was waiting for her to speak up. After what felt like a minute, he figured that she was waiting for him to speak. He opened his mouth to say what ever came to his mind.

"Why?" Taylor asked him.

She spoke not with a whinny tone, but more of a caring and worried tone. Her look was of seriousness.

"Why what?" he finally managed to ask.

Eric was trying to figure her out, but he was never good at reading people. Especially people that were serious. And lately, Taylor was always serious. It kind of bothered him that she was acting more serious then he was. But he decided to try his hand at it.

"I want to know why you have been acting strange all day since…" She looked away from him.

Was she ashamed? Did she feel embarrassed that she kissed him of all people? He knew that she would eventually come to a realization that she made a mistake. He just didn't expect for it to come this quickly. His brows furrowed as he stared at her. He didn't like her sudden decision to avoid eye contact with him.

"Since what?" He asked. "Since you kissed me yesterday," He snorted and looked away. He threw another rock. It sunk into the water again. He was becoming aggravated by his failure to skip rocks all of a sudden. "Or since you rejected my romantic advances earlier?"

"Is that what this is about?" Taylor asked in a soft tone.

Eric continued his attempt to skip rocks, ignoring her question. It was almost like Eric thought that if he ignored her, she would go away and take the problem with her. He would have rather liked it if this never happened. He shouldn't have been so stupid to take care of the laundry for her when he knew he would mess up. Everything seems to go wrong with him.

"Did you dye her shirt on purpose?" Taylor asked. He figured she came to the realization that he wasn't going to answer her first question.

"No," He finally answered. "I thought that…if I got the clothes washed fast, I could hang them up to dry and then, maybe spend time with you," He looked down at the ground. Taylor looked at him with a look of realization and affection. "But I didn't check the pile of coloured clothes to see if there was any white clothing with it," He looked up at her. "And there was," He picked up another rock and threw it.

"Why didn't you say that earlier? You just let Daley yell at you," Taylor said, her tone of voice filled with irritation.

"It wouldn't have made a difference," Eric threw another rock. The rock skipped once.

"It might have made some sort of difference," Taylor stated.

"Maybe," He shook his head. "But not all that much. Even if I did explain my mistake to Daley, she still would have scolded me for making such a stupid mistake and not taking the taking the time to make sure that the clothes were properly separated. Even then, do you think I want to admit out loud that I made a mistake?"

She didn't answer his question. He thought that it might have been because of his attitude, or because it was a rhetorical question. Either way, the silence was bothering him and the tension that was building was proving his theory of a breakup further.

He watched her bend down and pick up a flat rock. Then she chucked it towards the water. He was surprised by how far of a distance it traveled. After watching how far it went, she bent down and picked up another rock.

"Why did you offer to do the laundry for me earlier?" She asked as she threw another rock.

"I think you know the answer to that question already," He responded.

"You know you don't have to," She grabbed his arm. "I told you that-"

"I had to be unique," He interrupted. "I had to make it my own. I tried that and look what happened,"

"No offense," Her voice lost the gentle feeling it had to it. "But doing laundry for me isn't what I meant when I said that. I mean, it was nice and you dragging me down to the beach this morning to see the sun was nice too, but it's all so kindergarten,"

"Kindergarten," He snorted. "Is nothing I do good enough for you?"

"That's the thing," She started. "It is good enough for me,"

"Then why are you acting like it isn't?" He asked before she could continue.

"Eric," Taylor turned his body to face hers. "I don't want you to feel like you have to impress me. A girl like me eventually gets tired of guys trying to impress her. That's what I was trying to say this morning,"

"Well it sure didn't come out that way," He said in an irritated voice.

"I know," She looked away from him. "I realized that I didn't mean for it to come out that way later on. Then you started acting weird and I didn't understand why,"

"I just feel like no matter what I do," He started. "It isn't good enough,"

"Eric," She grabbed both of his hands with hers. "You're sixteen years old. At this age, nothing is good enough for anybody. We just got to try our hardest and hope that it doesn't end badly,"

"No offense," A smile grew on his face. "But you're starting to sound like a nicer version of Daley,"

Taylor shoved his shoulder playfully. They both smiled before looking away from each other.

"So you're not breaking up with me right?" Eric asked.

"Obviously not," Taylor said, reassuring him. "Compared to any other guys I've dated, you're like a breath of fresh air,"

"Are you admitting that I'm a better boyfriend then any guy you've ever dated?" He smirked.

"Don't make me regret dating you," She gave him an impish grin.

"And lose the chance for me to teach you how to properly skip rocks rather then throw them like a shot put ball,"

"From what I saw, you're just as bad as I am," Taylor grinned at him. He faked a hurt expression.

"We will have to test that theory,"

They both picked up rocks. They looked at each other, eyes filled with competitiveness. Then they both threw the rocks towards the horizon.

Jackson sat on one of the logs around the fire pit, tying some twine around his stick he was carving. He looked out at the horizon. He sighed and shook his head, focusing back on his stick. The sun was going down now and they were still stuck on the island.

Lex sat on one of the arm chairs from the plane wreckage, examining the box from the beach. He was examining the C4 and trying to understand anything he could about why it was here and where it came from. Jackson said he would only let the young boy examine it if he was careful and if he was present in case anything was to happen. Lex was running his fingers along the explosive, feeling the textures of it and trying to read the writing on it.

"The writing on the explosive is in another language. It looks foreign," Lex shared.

Jackson looked up at the boy and nodded his head. Jackson started carving his stick some more. He was debating on whether he should tell Lex or not. Trust wasn't the issue for Jackson because he knew that Lex was the only person out of all of them you could trust with anything. Although he knew that telling the boy would be a very helpful decision, but some part of him was stopping him from doing so. Maybe it was the guilt of opening up a path way to an innocent child who shouldn't know any of this yet. It was a wrong image to see an eleven year old boy examining a C4 explosive. And he was condoning this.

"It won't explode unless it's armed," Lex said. "By the looks of it, it's as safe as it can be. Just as long as we handle it with care and make sure it doesn't find its way into the wrong hands,"

"Is there any way we can figure out where it came from?" Jackson asked.

"Like I said, any writing that could tell us anything about it," The boy looked up at Jackson. "We can't understand,"

Jackson sighed and took the C4 from the boy gently.

"So no loss, no gain," he said, staring down at the explosive.

"Not necessarily," Lex reassured him. "We know that it was brought to the island. The question is why and when?"

"Who knows?" Jackson lied.

"All I know is," Lex took the explosive from Jackson. "We have to keep this and the others locked away from people who could possibly cause harm with them,"

"Yeah, but you said their pretty much safe,"

"That doesn't mean that I want to risk the chance of Eric some how blowing himself up,"

Jackson smiled at the young boy and then went back to carving his stick. Lex carefully put the explosive back into the box with the others. Carrying the box under his arm, Lex left Jackson and entered the plane. Daley walked into the camp, an unreadable expression plastered on her face. Jackson barely looked up to acknowledge her presence. She took a seat where her brother was sitting previously and stoked the fire. After a long silence, Daley sighed.

"You know, I was surprised back there," Daley told him. Jackson continued to ignore her presence. "I didn't think you had it in you. I mean, you're not what many would call leadership material and you spend more time roaming around in the jungle rather then actually doing what ever can be done to make our situation work around here. In fact, there isn't all that much you do around here that I can think of. Well besides chopping up wood, but we've all figured out that you only do that to calm down. I actually remember you doing more when we got here. Maybe that's the reason why you became leader, because you actually put in an effort. Now I'm starting to see what Melissa sees in you,"

"Is there any thing in particular you want from me Daley?" Jackson asked in an irritated voice.

"What? Can't one leader compliment another?"

Jackson looked up at her to see if she was joking. She raised her eyebrows at him. He realized that she wasn't joking but laughed any way.

"Well they can, but last time I checked, you're not the leader," His smile disappeared instantly. "I am,"

"Well were just going to have to change that," Daley grinned at him.

"Is that a threat?"

"No," Daley got up off the log and walked towards him. He got up as well. "It's more of any easy exit for you. I'm giving you the chance to give up your rights as leader to me before things get worse for you. When I say worse, I mean it,"

"Well if you want my title as leader, then you're going to have to fight for it,"

Daley snorted. "Don't you know that when you play with fire you just get burned?"

"Afraid you're going to lose?"

"To you?" Daley looked at him like he was nothing. "Please, if I can beat Nathan, you'll be a piece of cake,"

"Well if you think so," Jackson stepped closer to her. "Let's let the others decide that for us,"

"You do know that I can win over people right?"

"There isn't a doubt in my mind that you can't. But they have minds of their own and they can decide whether or not voting for you is the right choice. So go ahead and manipulate them, but just remember that not all of them will give into you,"

A smile grew on Daley's face. Jackson could see some sort of twinkle in her eye. He knew that she was up to something.

"I have a plan, and I don't have to manipulate all of them," Daley took a step towards him. "Only one of them,"

He looked at her with a look of confusion. A grin formed on her face.

"What do you mean?"

She turned and walked away, leaving him standing there worried. He didn't know who she was talking about, but he knew it wouldn't be good.

The others didn't know she was in here. They probably didn't notice she wasn't present. After the fight, when everyone went into separate directions, she went to the girl's tent. She rummaged through her bag until she found her sketch pad and writing utensil. She tried to sketch it down as fast as she could so that she wouldn't forget it. The building has been on her mind since she saw it, but this was a different. It seemed important. She felt like it was important in some way.

As she sat on the floor of the tent and stared down at the piece of paper in her hand, she felt a surge of happiness in her stomach. She felt like she accomplished something. It must have been because she actually got the sketch down before she forgot. The only problem was she didn't know what it meant. It was a complete mystery to her.

The parchment poster was taped to the grimy cement wall. Some of it curled at the corners due to tape losing its stickiness. There was some visible dirt stains on it from it being taped up for it seemed like years. A red light above it flashed, illuminating what was written on the poster. All the letters of the alphabet and the numbers from zero to nine were printed on it. Under each other character was a group of dots and dashes. The only sound that could be heard was a loud alarm going off in the background. The red light continued to flash. Something was obviously wrong.

**Next Time: **_The competition begins to heat up between Daley and Jackson._

"Trying to manipulate my brother into voting for you?" She flashed him a fake smile.

_Taylor makes a new friend._

He moved his tongue along his lips which caused Taylor to gasp and look away.

"Taylor," Jackson questioned. "Is everything alright?"

No, she thought. "Yes,"

_And someone…goes insane_

"Well, all I know is that if he starts making things up, then we might need to tie him to a tree and feed him animal bones,"

"You don't think that type of thing will happen to Nathan do you?" Melissa asked concerned.


	8. I Want To Be The Authority Part One

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own any characters or locations in this story. _

Chapter 8 – I Want To Be The Authority Part One

Daley walked around the camp, clip board in hand. It was her latest discovery that she made yesterday afternoon while in the plane. She had just had her argument with Jackson and she went into the plane to relax after her long day of work. She had taken comfort in one of the plane's seats when she felt something poking at her arm. She had found it wedged between the wall of the plane and her seat. She remembered a huge smile growing on her face at the site of it. It was the perfect tool to help her. If she made lists of their supplies and inventory, everyone would see how organized she was and how much she cared about their supplies. It would prove to them that she cares about whether they starve or have enough resources to build shelters.

Then they would all vote for her.

She knew it was the perfect plan. She spent all last night thinking about this and planning it out. Then she woke up extra early to get a head start on the inventory check. She would also be able to tell whether or not Melissa filtered enough water, or Nathan collected enough fruit, or Taylor collected enough fish. She could tell how much each member was slacking just be her inventory chart. Not to mention, if the amount of wood chopped increases, she might be able to tell when Jackson is stressed or not. Thus, making it easier for her to pull the rug out from underneath his feet. It was a brilliant plan.

She was going through the cooler to take inventory of the water, when Lex stumbled out of the plane in his pyjamas. The young boy's eyes were still adjusting to the sunlight of the morning. He shielded his eyes with his hand as he looked over to Daley. His eyes zoomed in on the clip board in her hand. He shook his head and began to walk over. He stopped beside Daley and yawned as she wrote something down on the clip board. She finished what she was writing and looked down at the boy.

"Hey there," She started writing again. "Did you have a nice sleep?"

Lex yawned again. "If you can call it that,"

"Why is that," Daley then walked away from him before he could respond. He assumed that she figured he would follow her.

"I was up all night reading through all of the books, trying to find out how to take the dye out of your shirt," Lex trailed behind his sister.

"Did you find anything?" Daley looked up at the sound of her shirt.

Lex shook his head. "I fell asleep before I could find anything. I'll probably spend the rest of the day reading what I can,"

"If you find anything interesting in those books, let me know okay?" Daley walked away to another part of the camp. Lex rolled his eyes and followed.

"Day, their books. Of course I'm going to find something interesting in them," Daley ignored Lex as she began writing again. He looked at her in disbelief. "What are you doing exactly?"

"Taking inventory of all of our supplies,"

"Why are you doing that?"

"It's simple really," She glanced down at her brother. "By taking inventory of all of our supplies, I can determine how much we need and how much each person consumes. Since you're smaller, you don't consume as much. But you are a male, so you might," She began writing again. "I can also figure out who has been doing their jobs based on how much of certain supplies has increased and decreased. It's a fail proof plan to keep things under control around here,"

"It sounds a little controlling,"

"Well, that is the point of it. We need control around here," Daley noticed her brother's expression. She put her hands on his shoulders and bent down to his level. "Look, I can tell you don't like it. You never seem to approve of any of my ideas. But I know what I'm doing and I know this will work. You just have to trust me,"

Lex nodded his head in understanding. Daley smiled at him and rose back up. She began writing on the clip board again. She didn't see Lex's expression of disgust.

"Now get back to reading those books," Daley commanded as she walked away.

Lex sighed as he watched her walk on.

* * *

**-Video Diary- **Lex Marin

_I try and support Daley when ever I can, but I'm finding it harder and harder to. She isn't acting like her self, she's acting worse then she normally is. She's taking this control thing to a different level of extreme and expecting us to go along for the ride with her. The sad part is, she knows that I don't approve of her actions and yet she still does it. If even I can't convince her to change her mind…no one can._

**-End Video-**

* * *

Melissa lied on the top of her messy sleeping bag. She was still in her sleepwear from last night and made no intention to change unless and until someone told her too. Her mind couldn't handle the action of changing at the moment. She tried not to think about anything but survival, but it was pointless. Her mind was distracted by the lying and sneaking around she had to do, not to mention these visions she keeps having.

She rolled onto her side and tried to find where she put her watch last night. She found it pressed against the side of the tent and checked the time. It was almost ten, a time that Melissa hadn't slept in till since she was in grade nine. Sitting up, Melissa began to rub her eyes to make sure she was fully awake.

Just then, the tent flap opened and in stepped Daley who looked fully rested. Melissa's eyes went straight to the clip board in her hand. Daley didn't seem to have noticed Melissa yet as she was frantically looking around the tent for something. Daley's face scrunched up in confusion at the sight of Melissa.

"You're still not up yet?" Daley asked.

"Well I am now," Melissa muttered, but Daley didn't seem to hear her as she was too distracted.

Daley got on her knees beside her backpack and began unzipping it. Daley dropped the clipboard and started searching through her bag. She tossed some stuff out of before stopping and placing her hand on her bag as she spaced out.

"Daley, what are you doing?" Melissa asked. Daley didn't answer right away and continued to stare at the side of the tent.

"Sorry, what," Daley asked as she broke her concentration. "Oh, I was looking for a pen or pencil to use. My pen ran out of ink,"

Melissa debated on whether she should offer Daley one of hers or not. She didn't like the way Daley had been acting lately and whatever Daley needed a writing utensil for probably isn't a good thing, but she knows what its like to be without a pencil when you need it most. She knows what it is like to have that hope that the person you ask will have one to give to you.

"Hey don't you have a bunch of them that you use for drawing?" Daley asked.

"Uh, yeah," Melissa responded hesitantly.

"Well do you think I can borrow one?" Melissa thought about whether Daley deserved it as she didn't even ask for it with proper manners. "Come on, I'll give it right back Mel. Don't be selfish like Taylor,"

Melissa wanted to slap Daley and get mad at her for manipulating her into giving her something as small as a pencil by comparing her to Taylor. Instead she didn't show any sign of anger by Daley's comment. She reached beside her towards her backpack and pulled a pencil out from the open front pocket. Daley took it with a smile and thanked Melissa before starting to leave. Melissa usually wouldn't have asked, but she feared for worst for Jackson and had a feeling Daley was up to more then she let on.

"What do you need the pencil for anyways?" Daley stopped and turned to face Melissa who still looked tired.

Daley stared at Melissa, deciding whether to respond or not and how to if she did. "Inventory,"

She turned and left quicker this time. Melissa stared after her in confusion, deciding what to make of this information. "Inventory," Melissa repeated silently to herself in confusion.

Melissa groaned and fell back against her pillow. She realized that she still needed more sleep before she could fully function and contemplate why she didn't trust Daley.

* * *

Eric stumbled through the jungle, swatting away insects as he did so. He was just coming back from the latrine when he saw Nathan approaching. He hoped Nathan wasn't heading to go to the washroom or else Eric might feel bad for what he just did, if Eric liked Nathan.

Nathan nodded his head in greeting and approached him, something Eric hoped wouldn't happen. "Why can't he just keep walking?" Eric asked himself.

"Hey Eric are you busy?"

Eric quietly groaned to himself, not wanting to do whatever Nathan wanted him to do. Eric was wondering why nobody had figured out yet that all Eric wanted to do was sit around in the sun. There wasn't any way Eric couldn't lie, as he didn't look busy at all.

"No, what's it to you?" Eric asked defensively.

Nathan threw his hands up in defence. "Whoa, I mean no harm. I was just wondering if you wanted to come help me collect supplies for the shelter Lex plans to make."

"Those are done?" Eric asked, not actually caring.

"Well no, but they will be soon and it would save us a lot of time later,"

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm going to have to pass. I'm already helping Taylor with something,"

"Because that worked so well last time," Nathan couldn't help but smile.

"Laugh all you want, but me and her agreed to go into the jungle and find whatever plants we need to change the colour of Daley's shirt,"

Nathan looked down to hide his laughter. "You mean dye it, Eric?"  
"Yeah whatever, were going to look for that as soon as Lex finds something on it,"

"And what if Lex doesn't happen to find anything?"

Eric didn't know exactly what Nathan was implying by the question.

"Well then I hope you like Daley in pink," Eric told him before walking off.

Nathan raised his eyebrow at Eric before he turned and went in the opposite direction.

* * *

-**Video Diary**- Nathan McHugh

_I feel like there is something Eric is not telling me. Lately, his been acting kind of odd and I think Taylor has something to do with it. You know that whatever it is, I'm going to get to the bottom of it. I didn't ready those _Hardy Boys _novels for nothing._

-**End Video**-

* * *

Nathan approached the airplane and entered it. He looked both ways before spotting Daley sitting in a plane chair with her legs hanging over the edge. Lex was sitting at the other end of the plane sorting books.

"Have you got anything yet?" Daley asked Lex.

Lex looked up at her annoyed and rolled his eyes. "What do you think?"

"Just keep looking," Daley continued to look down at her clipboard.

Nathan approached Daley and took a seat across from her. Lex looked up before looking down again.

Nathan tapped her knee. "Hey I need to talk to you about something,"

"I moved the cooler in here because the sun was beating down on it," Daley told him, not even glancing up.

"Oh, great, actually I was meaning to talk to you about Eric. I think he might be hiding something again,"

"When does Eric not hide something Nathan?"

Nathan stared at her. "Well, he's been hanging around Taylor a lot. I just thought that you might want to know just in case they were dating,"

Lex's head lifted slightly to listen.

Daley shrugged her shoulders. "That's Jackson's problem, not mine," Daley looked up at Nathan. "If you want to bring me information about somebody, don't waste my time with telling me something I already know about someone I could care less about," Nathan stared at her in disbelief; hurt came over him. Daley looked back down at her clipboard. "If you want to give me information, go spy on Jackson, come back and tell me what he is doing,"

Nathan got to his feet and stared at Daley. Nathan looked at Lex, who had since pretended to continue on with what he was doing. Nathan sighed in frustration before leaving the way he came in.

Nathan wasn't going to spy on Jackson, he was going to do the opposite of what Daley told him; spy on Eric.

Lex watched Nathan leave before looking up at Daley, a hurt expression came onto his face.

Taylor sat up from her beach towel and shook any sand off of her she could. The only problem with wearing suntan lotion was that you also had to wear the sand with it too. Taylor has yet to find a way to not get sand on her while tanning on the grimy beach on the island. Back home she would just lay on pool chairs and soak up the sun for hours, but here there was no butlers to serve her fancy juices or maids to clean up for her. All she had was Daley the maid and Eric the butler, but they would have to do; especially Eric.

She forgot how much she enjoyed having a boy to chauffeur her around and take care of her. Since her and Nathan broke up, she found life to be difficult. Maybe this plane crash was the best thing that could have happened to her. At least Eric listens to her; all Nathan wanted to talk about was football and cars, that and the importance of getting into a really good university next year. It would be nice to have a boy toy while she is here, not only that but Eric is having his life long dream come true.

"And it's all because of me," she thought.

She sighed as she slumped her shoulders down in relaxation. She turned and adjusted the solar panels next to her and grabbed her bottle of water. She re-adjusted her sunglasses before dropping her bottle along with her jaw. Jackson was jogging throwing the water on the shore, headphones in, his hair, wet and tousled. Taylor could only stare at him in awe as he looked like a bad boy version of _Bay Watch_.

Jackson looked up at Taylor and nodded towards her. Taylor felt a jolt in her stomach that seemed unknown to her, but as soon as Jackson began walking towards her, with the sunlight shinning down on him, she realized what the jolt was.

She was hot for Jackson.

**Flight 29 Down: When All Hope Falls**

Jackson took a seat next to Taylor with a groan that just made Taylor feel even more awkward. She looked at the sand sticking to the sweat on his skin and had to look away. She couldn't possibly be interested in him in that way; she was dating Eric. Well she was sure that's what they were calling it, or he did.

"Hey, do you think I can have some of your water," Taylor handed him the bottle while still looking in the opposite direction from him. "Thanks."

As he began to take gulps of the water, Taylor looked over at him. Her eyes directed to his throat where his Adam's apple moved with every swallow making her feel heat breaching her skin. Once he finished drinking, he moved his tongue along his lips which caused Taylor to gasp and look away. Jackson turned to look at Taylor, who avoided eye contact. He leaned forward to see her face.

I must have been the heat today doing this to her, she has never had a thing for bad boys. Maybe the heat was messing with her head and making her believe feeling this way was right.

"Taylor," Jackson questioned. "Is everything alright?"

No, she thought. "Yes,"

"Then why won't you look at me?"

Taylor turned to look at him slowly. He raised his eyebrow, a silly smirk on his face.

"See, that's better," Taylor gave a fake smile before looking towards the water. They both lounged in the sun, the tension rising for Taylor. "So where's your other half?"

"What?" Taylor snapped quickly. "I mean, what are you talking about?"

Jackson smirked at her before shrugged.

"Well, you and Eric are usually always off planning the downfall of Daley. I would be lying if I were to say that your stint with the shirt was a little amateurish but effective none the less,"

Taylor tried to imagine whether he was complimenting her or insulting her. All the same she tried not to blush.

"I would be flattered if I had any part in it,"

"You're telling me, Eric did this all by himself?"

"Is that so hard to believe? He learns from the best,"

Jackson nodded his head.

"Okay," He began to drink some more water.

Taylor was confused as to why he went to the trouble of asking about her and Eric when he was just going to drop it within a minute of asking. She twisted her lips as she thought about it.

"So have you put any thought into who you might be voting for in the election?"

Taylor turned to him, still confused. Had she put any thought into who she might vote for? She had never thought about it.

"Hoping I might vote for you instead of Daley?" She raised her eyebrow.

Jackson shrugged before saying "I can't deny that I was expecting you to,"

Taylor bit her lip and looked away as Jackson took another sip of water. He was expecting her to, just like her was expecting Eric, Lex, and Melissa too. She was nothing special compared to the other survivors who would vote for him to reign again. The only reason they even voted for Jackson was so Daley wouldn't boss them around, but they had never actually asked what Jackson would accomplice for them.

"Why should I?" Taylor asked sternly causing Jackson to almost choke on his water.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I just want to know why any of us should vote for you. You know, besides not wanting Daley as the leader,"

Jackson stared out towards the water, his fingers rubbing against the bottle, something Taylor tried not to focus on. Was she wrong to question him? He hasn't let them down once yet, but they still should know what they are voting for. When ever she asks her father why he votes for who he does, he tells her that he votes for whoever is the right guy, the one you can depend on to take care of the country. They knew Jackson was the right guy, but could they depend on him to take care of their camp?

"You know what?" Jackson got ready to get up. "I need to get back to you on that,"

He handed Taylor her water bottle back, thanking her for it then sprinted off down the beach. Taylor watched him pick up his pace and sighed.

The conversation left her thinking one thing; she didn't know what she wanted. How could she have weird feelings for Jackson like that right when she has finally made the decision to have a relationship with Eric? Could this be some sort of sign that she needs to rethink her feelings?

She laid back down and went to take a sip of water. A droplet fell in her mouth of what was left. Jackson had drunken all her water on her. She groaned in frustration at the thought of having to go back up to the camp to get another bottle.

* * *

Melissa stirred the boiling water around the pot in a clockwise direction as she leaned forward, focusing only on that. Lex tried not to notice, but it was bothering him that she had been like that for the past 10 minutes; just stirring the water as if it would do something. The bottles laid empty right next to her with full jugs of water that Eric had carried over. He felt that if he didn't say anything soon, she might set the spoon on fire, or worse Daley might come over and notice. Something had to be done.

"Is something wrong?" he questioned.

She seemed to snap out of her trance as she turned to stare at him slowly, mumbling a hmm as she did so. Lex scaled his eyes down to the pot and back to her. She realized her mistake and suddenly got flighty upon realizing what she had been doing.

"No, nothing is wrong," She inquired as she began to re-arrange the bottles and jugs around her. She stopped and looked around, muttering about the whereabouts of the funnel.

"You just seem out of it today,"

Lex watched her struggle before reaching beside her and handing the funnel to her. She took it slowly, thanking him. He watched her; the way her eyes focused on him and the speed of body movements only confirmed that she had in fact lied to him just then and was seriously bothered by something.

"Is it that obvious?"

Lex watched her begin to pour the water into the bottles, getting ready to tell her what was already a fact. Instead, he thought over his answer. Melissa must have known that she hasn't been acting herself; sleeping later then usual and decreased work performance. But there was something stopping Lex from confirming it to her. He felt sorry for her and felt that if he were to tell her that she was rather predictable, she might take it too hard and further complicate her state.

"No," Lex avoided eye contact so she wouldn't know he was lying. "Not to the others at least,"

She sighed in frustration, running her hands along her hairline. She began to mumble obscure words to her self. Something about "how she doesn't know how much longer she can do this".

"How much longer you can do what?"

She looked up at him, surprised that he managed to catch what she said. She stared at him, her mind contemplating how to respond. She finally looked away towards the ground.

"I'm just worried about Jackson and this election,"

Lex knew too well that Melissa wasn't worried about the election. Everyone except Daley knew that Jackson would be elected again. It was pointless to even have one when they could be spending their time worrying about survival or trying to get rescued. He knew that there was a part of Melissa that cared for Jackson, but not for his chances of staying leader. There was something else that happened when they went off the other day. Something they were hiding.

"I wouldn't worry about it. Jackson will win,"

"Do you actually believe that?"

"Well I know for sure that you, Jackson and I will vote for him. Our three votes alone will beat out Daley and Nathan's votes. Taylor and Eric will vote for whoever is nicest to them,"

She nodded her head in understanding.

"Melissa,"

Her eyes met his. He leaned forward, keeping his eyes on her to get the message across.

"Whatever is bothering, whatever you're worried about, it's not as bad as you may think," He leaned back and smiled at her reassuringly.

To Lex's surprise, Melissa began to smile. It wasn't a small smile, it was a big one.

"Thank you," She pointed to the books. "Now go back to work so we can dye Daley's shirt,"

Lex listened and went back to reading. He glanced back up once and noticed Melissa hard at work, silently humming to herself.

* * *

Nathan stormed through the jungle at an alarming rate. His fists clenched and his face filled with the redness of anger. He kicked any dead leaves or pebbles in his path of destruction. Fumes could have been bursting from him that could ignite a fire.

He was tired of being Daley's yo-yo, tossed around when she needed him but rolled up when she didn't. A string dangling from her hand that needed to be cut. All she is worried about is the election and her stupid pink shirt that isn't even that bad looking. It's a stupid shirt and an unimportant position on an island that nobody cares about. It's not like it is going to go on a college application that she was island queen for a while. Besides, she's already class president back home, why should she get to be it here too?

She wants him to jump for her whenever she wants but she won't even look his way when he comes to her with a suspicion that could complicate the entire camp. For all he cares, he's glad Eric ruined her shirt, he made it look better. And he hopes that whatever Eric has planned has to do with Daley's downfall.

He was a boy scout for goodness sake. That's more effective on an island then being a bossy, arrogant know-it-all.

Nathan began to thrash everything in his warpath now, not even looking what he stepped on or kicked. He needed to get away from her. He needed to get as far away from her. He needed to get as far away from his feelings for her.

His feelings for her.

He couldn't have feelings for Daley. They hate each other, their always at each others throats. Although, since they crashed here, they have been getting along alright. But Daley doesn't care about his feelings or else she would have listened to him. So how could he possibly be attracted to someone that could care less about how he feels? He couldn't, but there must be something that draws him to her. Maybe all that fighting with her masked how he actually felt for her.

No, Nathan could tell the difference between lust and hate. The two aren't one in the same. But Taylor did tell him once while they were dating that you can't have lust without hate and vice versa. Or was it love that she said? He couldn't be bothered to remember, it was already making his head hurt.

He will just have to tell Daley how he feels; that he is a human being just like her and that he doesn't like being treated as a sidekick that lives in her shadow. If he wants to make this work, he needs to be honest.

He turned around to walk back but stopped when he realized he had no idea which way camp was. He hadn't thought about it when he came out here earlier, but now he realized he probably should have been conscious about how far he went. He would have to find the beach and walk along that towards the camp. If not he would wander around the jungle until the located the camp or an area near it. The obvious idea would be to walk in the direction he came from.

He began to walk back the way he came keeping an eye out for any sign of a familiar area he might recognize, such as a tree. Who was he kidding; all the trees look the same. He should remember that from boy scouts. It was years ago, but he should have remembered it.

_Snap_

What the heck was that? He whirled around to face the noise, but saw nothing there. There wasn't even a sign of movement from any bushes.

_Click_

No that was not a normal jungle noise you hear. That was something not human either. He walked towards the sound, listening for it some more. He stood there in silence and listened.

_Snap_

He ran towards it, listening for the clicking that follows.

_Click_

He heard it again and kept running.

Suddenly his foot snagged against something sticking out of the ground and his entire body slammed into the dirt. He scrapped his knees and the palm of his hand smacked into the corner of a rock in the ground. His head collided against the ground, causing a seething pain to follow. He laid there in pain and held his hand. He looked down to see blood seeping out of the cut there now. He laid his hands against his chest and let the blood press against his green shirt. He looked over at what he tripped over and saw it wasn't a root sticking out of the ground. His eyes began to close before he could see clearly what it was.

"Nathan,"

He opened his eyes slowly and watched the blur of red become clear. She sat over him with her long curly hair sprawled out in a mane like a lion. She smiled sweetly at him and grabbed his hand. She began to wipe the blood from it and onto her white dress. She smiled at him the whole time she did this. Although it was something he couldn't see Daley doing, not to mention how disgusting it was, it was soothing. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't want it to end. He laid there in the heat of the jungle, bleeding from the hand and felt relaxed. He closed his eyes and sighed with a smile on his face.

"Nathan,"

"Yes Daley,"

"Nathan, I'm not Daley,"

"Sure you are," He reached up with his free hand to rub her hair. "With you long lovely-"

Daley didn't have short hair, at least from what he can remember. He opened his eyes and stared up to see Jackson. Nathan let out a yell of fear and crawled back a bit. Jackson just watched, seemingly amused by Nathan's realization. Jackson continued to lean against his one knee on the ground even after Nathan made the decision to stand up and dust himself off.

"What the heck are you doing?" Nathan said; his voice still exhausted.

"I could ask you the same thing, but I don't think I have to,"

"What?" Nathan yelled obviously confused.

"Lex told me what happened and said he saw you storming off into the jungle. I seem to remember that most people end up in dangerous situations after walking into the jungle while angry. From the looks of it, I was right,"

Nathan looked away from Jackson and took a few steps towards a tree to lean his hand on it for support.

"Yeah, well you don't need to worry about me. I got everything under control,"

Jackson nodded towards Nathan's hand. "Doesn't look like it,"

"Look," Nathan walked towards Jackson. "I know what you're doing," Jackson licked his lip and dropped his head to the side in questioning curiosity. "You're trying to act like you're worried about my well being just so that I'll vote for you,"

Jackson dropped his head to hide his smile and put both his hands on his knees to push himself up. He took a step towards Nathan who seemed worried of what he might do.

"I don't need your vote to beat Daley," Both boys stared at each other before Jackson spoke again. "Nor do I want it,"

Jackson walked past Nathan into the jungle and didn't look back once. Nathan eventually followed him back, worried that if he didn't he would get more lost.

* * *

Lex continued to skim through the pages of what was the final book after the stack of books next to him. He flipped to a page on pioneer ways of dying fabrics as well as other materials. His eyes immediately widened at the sight.

"I think I found something,"

"Oh really Lex, that's great!" Melissa moved next to him on the log.

He flipped a few pages forward and then flipped back to the page. Melissa tried to make sense of what was on the page and found that it was easy to follow.

"Ugh," Melissa interrupted the young boys reading.

"Ugh, what?" Lex looked at her annoyed.

"There might be a small problem with this recipe,"

Melissa pointed to one of the words on the page.

**Vinegar**

Lex soon realized what she meant and slowly frowned.

"Oh," Lex said disappointed which caused Melissa to scrunch her nose up in worry.

"But, maybe there was a tiny package or a bottle packed with the rest of the food,"

"Somehow I don't see that being a mandatory item for camping food,"

"Maybe we can substitute it. I mean, aren't there different kinds of vinegar,"

Lex flipped to the next page followed by other pages after it. "Yes,"

"See then we can use one of those then," Melissa slapped her hands on her knees feeling accomplished.

"I'm just concerned about the effect different vinegar might have on the dye,"

"Well we can try it. Worst comes to worst, Daley will have one pink shirt or one less shirt,"

"Somehow I don't see that sitting with her,"

Both were interrupted by Taylor and Eric who walked into the camp together talking and laughing. Melissa got up and pranced over to them. Taylor took a step back into Eric by accident in unintentional fear. He grabbed her arms to stable her.

"Whoa, Melissa, where are you going so fast?" Eric said. Taylor giggled at Eric's comment.

"Uhm,"

Lex walked over carrying the book from early and stood next to Melissa.

"What's up with you two?" Eric asked.

"Lex here found the solution to Daley's shirt problem." Melissa told them, putting her hand on the boys shoulder proudly.

"Phooey," Taylor said in disappointment.

"I doubt Daley will say that when she finds out," Lex said.

"I doubt Daley will even be excited, you know with her sociopathic rampage across the island," Taylor once again giggled at Eric's comment.

They both made the decision to walk off in mid conversation leaving Lex and Melissa to watch in confusion.

"What's going on between them?"

Lex shrugged. "I'm not even sure,"

Just then Jackson walked out of the jungle with a bleeding Nathan following close behind. Both Melissa and Lex ran over to them.

"Nathan, what happened?" Melissa asked concerned.

Nathan scratched the side of his head. "I went into the jungle and tripped; scrapped my hands and knees,"

"I found him far out in the jungle unconscious,"

"Well what were you doing so far out?" Melissa asked more worried.

Nathan avoided eye contact the best he could and acted as if he didn't want to talk about it.

"It's because of Daley isn't it?" Lex asked.

Both Jackson and Melissa looked at Nathan confused. Jackson rolled his eyes as if it was expected.

"What did Daley do?" Melissa asked him.

Nathan sighed. "Well,"

"Oh my god, Nathan!"

Everyone turned to see Daley running over to them with worry on her face. Everybody looked at Nathan, feeling sorry for him at this moment, yet wondering how he would react. Nathan's face stayed blank as Daley approached and once again asked what happened.

Then his face turned from a blank stare to a small smile.

"I just tripped in the forest trying to find my way back to camp,"

"Yeah but are you okay?" Daley took a step forward and grabbed Nathan's wrist.

The others watched on, completely confused as to what was going on as well as what it was that Lex and Nathan knew that they didn't.

"Yeah, I'll be fine,"

Daley rolled her eyes and said "Good," in a relieved tone.

"Come on and we will get you fixed up," Daley said as she dragged a willing Nathan to the plane. The other three watched on until they disappeared into the plane.

"I guess he got over it," Lex said before walking off.

"Got over what?" Melissa called, but the younger boy seemed to not have heard her. Melissa turned to look up at Jackson. "What do you think that was about?"

Jackson sighed. "Who knows? But what ever it was about, it must have not been that bad if it was resolved that quickly,"

Melissa looked towards the plane where she could see Daley inside bending down to clean Nathan's cuts as he smiled back.

"Something doesn't seem right," Melissa shook her head as she turned back to Jackson. "I know Nathan and I know that he would rather wear a fake smile then let someone know he's upset,"

"You think he's pretending everything is alright? Why would he do that?"

Melissa thought about it and would have told Jackson that it was because Nathan had an obvious crush on Daley, but it wasn't her place to tell even him. She could trust Jackson, but if he realized that Nathan's attitude towards Daley was because of a crush, who's to say he wouldn't realize that Melissa's attitude to him was similar? She couldn't risk that or Nathan finding out that she told his deepest secret to someone.

"I don't know," Melissa gave him a small smile. "But I'm sure it's nothing worth knowing,"

"You sure?"

Melissa nodded her head. "Oh, by the way, Lex found something in the book for Daley's shirt. I wasn't sure if you would be interested in knowing,"

"Me, be interested in Daley's shirt?" Jackson said sarcastically.

Melissa laughed slightly. "Yeah, right,"

"I should probably go help Lex though. So I'll see you later?" Jackson asked.

Melissa nodded and mumbled in agreement.

Jackson gave her a small smile before running off to where Lex went. Melissa waited until Jackson was gone before she went inside the girl's tent and pulled her note book out of her bag. She flipped to the page of the drawing of the house and began to observe it.

There had to be some importance of this.

* * *

"And that should do it," Daley said as she put the last band aid on Nathan's kneecap.

"Thanks!" Nathan said with a smile.

"Let's try not to go tripping over any more stuff okay? Don't want anymore accidents,"

"Right," Nathan responded with an awkward smile.

"Well," Daley said as she placed her hands on her legs and proceeded to get up from the plane chair armrest just as Nathan got up.

Both found themselves in close proximity with each other due to the small space in the aisle of the plane. Their chests were almost touching as well as their fingers. Both tried to squeeze past the other but found it unsuccessful. Daley looked up at him much the way he imagined in his dream when he was unconscious. He could feel his heartbeat picking up and wanted to look away to calm it, but found he could not. Daley did instead and was successful in her attempt to squeeze past Nathan. She got to the opening to the plane and stopped.

"Nathan,"

Nathan's head shot up as Daley turned to face him. He had a hopeful look on his face, thinking that maybe she was going to admit something; anything. The way she stood there nervously made him believe more and more that she was going to.

"There's something I've been meaning to say to you and I felt it had to be said today. It's been bothering me for the last few hours," Daley took a few steps toward him. "I mean it has been hard for me to even think about the election and lists I've been making because I know it wouldn't be right if I let it go unsaid,"

Nathan swallowed the lump in his through and nervously said "What is it you need to tell me?"

Daley took a deep breath as Nathan braced himself for her words and how he was going to react.

"I just wanted to apologize for the way I treated you earlier, you know when you were trying to talk to me about Eric,"

Nathan couldn't even form any words in his brain to describe the feeling of disappointment he felt at the moment.

"I shouldn't have been so selfish and inconsiderate of your feelings,"

Nathan just nodded his head, not knowing what else to do.

"I just hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me,"

Nathan nodded his head again until he realized that Daley actually asked him something.

"Oh yeah," Nathan shrugged and smiled. "It's totally fine,"

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to hurt you, I mean just the thought of you running around in the jungle and injuring yourself because of something I did would make me feel so guilty,"

Nathan tried not to show any signs that would give away that she was the cause of his anger earlier.

"And honestly, if you want me to listen to you talk about Eric; I'm all ears right now,"

"You know what; don't even worry about it,"

"Are you sure, I can stay and listen for a few minutes,"

"Wasn't even that important," Nathan waved it off. "Already forgotten,"

"Good, well I should probably get back to my inventorying,"

Nathan watched Daley turn to leave. She stopped and smiled at him before exiting the plane. Nathan let out a sigh of relief he had been holding in.

* * *

**-Video Diary- Nathan McHugh**

_So Daley apologized. I mean it wasn't like she professed her feelings for me or anything, but it was nice to know that she does have feelings inside herself. Not trying to say she is heartless or anything. _

**-End Video-**

* * *

Eric and Taylor went off towards the well where Eric was filling jugs earlier. Taylor sat on a small rock and filed her nails as she waited for him. She was in need of a good manicure, but with them being on the island, she had to take care of her nails herself. This meant she has to clean the dirt out from underneath them everyday, cut them once a week as well as file them. It was the most work she has had to do on her nails since grade 8. She still wanted to know why they couldn't just put a spa on the island for situations like this.

"Do you think they know?" Eric asked as he continued to funnel the water into the jugs.

"About?"

"About me and you,"

That was another sore subject that was at the forefront of Taylor's mind. The whole day it hadn't even come to her attention that their relationship was becoming obvious to the others. She had been too focused on her new confusion of whether she knew what she wanted.

"No, probably not,"

She didn't honestly believe that, but she didn't want Eric to panic; she didn't want to give Eric any reason to. This included keeping her feelings at the moment in her head and out of his. Eric was possibly the most descent guy she had ever dated; she didn't want to ruin this opportunity.

"I have a feeling that Nathan is suspicious of something between us,"

"Eric, Nathan is stupid. Trust me, he knows nothing,"

Nathan was the first guy she dated that was different from her regular guys. She thought he would be cooler being on the football team and how he had his license, but he was so boring. Neither of them could hold a conversation with each other. The only good quality about him was that he drove her to where ever she needed to go.

"I still don't know what you seen in him," Eric said then scoffed.

Taylor didn't know anymore either. She had her reasons but as far as them, Nathan was like an ordinary guy at school. There wasn't anything particular about him that made him special. He was a football player, drove his dad's car, tried to become class president; they weren't the highest list of qualities that made him less then ordinary. He fit the bill for her typical dates, yet Eric and Jackson didn't. Jackson was the bad boy and Eric was the goofy boy next door. They weren't her typical guys, which made her think that there had to be somebody to change her taste in guys. I must have been Nathan though, considering he was the last guy she was with before she came on the trip. But he was a typical guy.

"Eric,"

"Uh-huh," He mumbled as he funnelled the water.

"How did you know you liked me?"

Eric looked up at Taylor to see if she was serious. She had stopped filing her nails and appeared to be interested.

"I told you the story remember? When we were in the same gym class and-"

"I know that part of it, but what actually made you like me?"

Eric turned to stare out into space while he thought about it. Taylor sat patiently, leaning forward on her knees while she waited for the big answer.

"I honestly don't know really," He turned to look back at her worried as if he made a mistake of not knowing. "I suppose it's because I found you hot or pretty or whatever," He turned back to the jug of water.

Taylor sat back frustrated that he didn't give her the answer she had been hoping to seek. She expected something significant from him, like maybe a certain way she twirled her hair and maybe he liked girls that did that. But his answer was the typical one; because he found her attractive. Most guys did, and it bothered her that it was the only thing she represented as far as giving back to the world. She worked hard to maintain a look by spending all her father's money on fancy things for herself, but she had never actually done anything for anybody else until she got here.

"So," Taylor looked down at the ground realizing how much she actually meant to every guy, including Eric. "You only liked me based on looks?"

"Isn't that how most relationships start?" Eric asked as if he was unfazed by the real message she was saying.

It was how most of her relationships had started before Nathan. Why was it that Nathan somehow changed her judgement of possibly mates? He was one of the typical guys! Nathan isn't even as attractive. Could that be the cause of the change; dating a guy that she lowered her standards for? But Eric and Jackson are at least attractive in some aspects. She wouldn't have dated Eric if he wasn't the least bit attractive. But why was Jackson the one who gave her that strange sensation earlier?

"I guess, but what about personality?"

"Yeah that matters too, but honestly, we don't normally walk up to somebody and get to know them for their personality. Usually we find someone appealing and make the decision to get to know them,"

"So looks first, personality after," Taylor asked.

"Now you're catching on,"

She knows nothing about Jackson and barley anything about Eric except about how corny he is and how he likes to get into everybody's business. At least with Nathan, she knows how he loves football; his dad is some important guy in LA, and how badly he is at keeping control of things. Could that be why Nathan changed her perspective; because she actually knew his personality? She and Eric did seem to have a tiny bit in common as far as scheming and fooling around went. They both didn't take anything serious. She liked guys that were laid back, but Jackson defiantly isn't.

She thought back to the moment between her and Jackson earlier. He was passing during a run and was all sweaty and thirsty. This was sounding similar to another situation she knew of; Eric's situation. Eric liked her in gym when he saw her all sweaty, she felt an attraction to Jackson the moment she saw him all sweaty. That was it then, it was just a spare of the moment thing that you see in movies. It doesn't actually mean she likes Jackson. Yet, Eric began to like her from the get go of a similar situation.

She didn't know what to think anymore. The heat and all this thinking was going to fry her brain. She had to clear her mind of all this boy drama. This meant she had to avoid all three boys until she got her feelings straight.

She got up and wiped off any dry dirt and grass from her legs and began to walk towards the camp despite Eric's protests about how he was sorry if he said something wrong. Something was wrong, but it had nothing to do with him.

* * *

"I just can't believe you found it," Jackson told Lex. They both peered over the book that Lex had found with the dye solution in it.

"It took hours of reading, but at least I know what we need. Although we might have to go on a hike to get some of the plants needed for the dye,"

"That's not a problem,"

"Yeah, but there is a problem, we need vinegar,"

"We don't have any," Jackson asked.

Lex shrugged. "As far as I know,"

Jackson sighed and leaned back in his chair while covering his eyes. "Well I guess we will have to think of something,"

"Well actually," Lex started to say which caused Jackson to peek at him with his one eye under his hands. "Melissa already did,"

Jackson removed his hands from his face and leaned forward to listen better.

"She did?"

"She suggested using another type of vinegar,"

"Like what?"

"That's the other problem, I don't know," Jackson once again leaned back frustrated.

"Of course,"

"But I'm going to continue to read on in that book and see what I can find,"

"All this work over a stupid shirt,"

Daley came trotting up to them with her usual clipboard and pencil. She looked mischievous as usual lately. Jackson wasn't in the mood for another grunge match with her. He was already stressed enough with everything that was going on with him lately; he didn't need Daley to add on to it. Daley was like this little beacon in the back of his mind that kept flashing on at times he didn't want it to.

"Trying to manipulate my brother into voting for you?" She flashed him a fake smile.

Jackson ignored her comment. He knew that she was trying to get under his skin. If he acknowledged her comments then she would be winning. He instead tried to shift the focus to what seemed important at hand.

"Do you want to tell her Lex or should I?" Jackson avoided contact with Daley by instead looking at Lex.

"Jackson and I were discussing a hike or expedition into the jungle,"

Daley rolled her eyes as if it was this foolish idea and certainly made her point more clear.

"Do you remember the last time some of us went running off into the jungle? Oh right, they never returned,"

"This isn't about going off to explore the island Daley, it's about your shirt," Lex proceeded to hand Daley the book at the sign of confusion in her face. "We need to go in further to find the necessary supplies to fix your shirt,"

Daley seemed change her attitude as she read the book. Once she stopped reading, she looked up at them in amazement.

"You found it!"

"It's there isn't it," Lex said sarcastically which caused Jackson to ruffle his hair.

Jackson crossed his arms and smiled as he watched Daley embrace Lex in a big hug. Jackson wasn't happy because of Daley, he was happy for Lex. Daley doesn't spend that much time with him and spends most of her time telling him what to do. He was glad to see that Daley realized that Lex was still her brother.

"There is one problem though," Lex told her as they released from their hug.

"No, no, there can't be a problem," Daley told them anxiously as she looked back and forth between the two boys.

"The solution tells us that we need vinegar," Jackson told her.

"So how is that a problem?" Daley crinkled her forehead in confusion.

"Well, we aren't sure if we have any," Jackson explained.

"Well I'm doing inventory at the moment, so I'm sure I can check. I'm not giving up and I hope you guys aren't either,"

Lex and Jackson's eyes met each other before looking back at Daley who began to walk off. She got a few feet then turned back to face them. Jackson wanted to ask if she forgot something, but instead kept his mouth shut; not wanting to start anything.

"Oh and Jackson," Daley's lips curved into a smirk. "Just to be clear, this doesn't change anything," She turned and walked off again.

Apparently she didn't share the same feelings.

Jackson shook his head. "Well, you can certainly tell that you two aren't related by blood,"

* * *

Melissa sat and stared at the boiling water in the pot over the fire pit, dazing off to thoughts of the building in her visions. What could they possibly mean? Could it be that this place was a real location on the island? If so, what are the chances of them finding help there? She was beginning to put all her hope into this building, but now that she thought about it, what if this place wasn't as positive as she thought. Perhaps the place has been abandoned for years; it did look rather unkempt. That, as well as the fact that Abby and the others have been gone for weeks, you would think that if there was help on the island that Abby would have mentioned it the first time she returned or at least they would have come back. She felt like she was wasting away her time surviving instead of trying to figure out what any of this meant. She supposed it was hard to follow a trail with no tracks.

She sighed and rubbed her neck with both her hands. She had been feeling better, with the exception of the vast headaches that never seemed to end. She took the pain as home sickness. Compared to this, high school was a cake walk.

Nathan appeared leaving the boys tent looking out of it. Melissa could relate to it and would never wish it upon anyone, especially Nathan. It seemed like he was already having problems with Daley before; she couldn't imagine how he must feel after hitting his head.

Nathan walked over to the cooler next to Melissa and opened the lid. He reached in to grab a bottle, but stopped.

"Are these good to take?"

Melissa nodded her head and watched as he helped himself to one of the bottles. Melissa reached into her pocket and pulled out a container of pills. She spilled on into her hand and offered it to Nathan.

Nathan shook his head. "No thanks,"

"Don't be stupid,"

"I don't want to waste what medication we have,"

"Do you want it to get worse?"

Nathan groaned and took the pill from her hand. He took it with water which got a smile of satisfaction from Melissa.

"So," He nodded to the pill container as Melissa put them back in her pocket. "Why do you still have those?"

"For my headaches,"

"Still," Nathan questioned. "I thought you were done with them,"

"Yeah, I know right," Melissa said nonchalantly. In fact it was too laid back for him.

"You can't keep taking those Mel,"

Melissa avoided eye contact with him. "I need them," She said hesitantly and incredibly quiet.

"That's what addicts say," Nathan raised his voice slightly.

Nathan wouldn't understand. Nobody would understand what it is she's going through. The pills help her think clearly. They make her "visions" clearer to her. It's like the pills some how get rid of all the clutter in her mind so she can think straight.

"They take the pain away," Melissa lied.

"There is a maximum dosage for the pills. If you take too many at once, you could overdose," The last words seemed to catch in Nathan's throat.

It was heartbreaking for Melissa to lie to him about this and see the pain and worry behind his words. But she needed to know what was going on, and she felt a connection to the island this way. It would be too hard to explain to anybody, especially Jackson and Nathan. She knew both cared about her a lot, but they would do whatever they think is best; try to stop it.

"I only take four a day," She said it as if it was nothing, but Nathan was not convinced.

"That is still too many, especially when we only have a short supply," Nathan shook his head. "If Daley catches you…"

"She won't," Melissa quickly told him. "Because I am going to return them and this will stay between me and you,"

"You don't think Daley won't notice the shortage,"

Melissa's face went pale all at once. "I never thought about it,"

"Well now is the time to. There may not be a rehab on this island, but there is Daley,"

Nathan moved closer to her and put his hand out. He looked around before looking back at her.

"Here give them to me," Melissa stared at him confused and with hesitation. "I'll put them back and make up some excuse,"

Melissa sighed and removed the container from her jacket pocket.

"Jesus Mel, what do you carry them around with you?"

Melissa shrugged. "I never know when I might need them,"

Nathan took them from her and slid them into the pockets of his cargo shorts. He gave her a stern look before saying "This ends now,"

Melissa didn't say anything else and sat there as Nathan got up and went towards the plane. There was nothing she could do. She knew she was defeated.

* * *

Eric continued to fill his jugs, slower then earlier. He muttered incoherent words to him self quietly, mostly about mistakes and Taylor. As his movements become slower and slower, he eventually lost all motivation to continue and dropped the funnel.

"What did I do wrong?" He yelled to himself.

Eric felt like this could be the worst experience ever. At least at school he could get away from all these problems if he didn't want to deal with them. He felt like no matter what he did, it was a mistake. Now, he was making them without even realizing. He was getting tired of being ridiculed for his incompetence to perform most tasks correctly. He needed to find a simple solution to this and he needed to do it fast. He couldn't handle spending any time with the people on this island not knowing when they might judge them for his next mistake.

Perhaps the first step to going about this change would be to apologize for past mistakes. He obviously wasn't going to bow at Daley's feet for the shirt incident; that was karma for her. But there were a few others who probably harboured a general dislike for him because of his past attitude to situations. He couldn't apologize to Taylor until he found out for sure what it was he did to upset her so much; but there was one person he could think of that he remembered conflicting a problems on. It just also happened to be someone who he feared who might take a strong offence to what he did.

He looked down at the dirty damp hole in front of him then at the half filled jugs of water. He couldn't just leave the water to sit in the sun like this; part of making a change involves making good decisions. He had no choice; he had to finish his job first before he even considered going off to do anything else.

* * *

Even on a deserted island, Taylor still found trouble in trying to find a quiet place to sit and think about anything. On her journey to think about her feelings she must have run into Nathan once, was greet by both Lex and Jackson, been stopped by Melissa to be questioned about Eric's speed of service, and yet somehow managed to avoid Daley. She wondered when people would get the message that she just didn't care at the moment. Obviously they wouldn't understand, but the body motions should have been a clear sign that she was occupied at the moment. All of the social events just tired out her brain, which was odd because she loves to socialize.

She finally found a quiet place down the beach, secluded from the rest of the survivors. She plopped down in the sand and lied there for a little while before she sat up realizing that she couldn't stand sand in her hair. She instead focused her attention on the water in front of her that seemed to stretch on for miles, making her wonder if there was anything else left out there. What if they were the only ones left in this huge world and somehow managed to survive all of the chaos because they crashed on a random lonely island in the middle of no mans land. To her, it was like listening to others talk about how huge space was, she couldn't think about it without her head hurting.

She could sure use a good distraction right now away from all the drama. She could also use a low fat latte and a good shopping spree. But all she had was ground water and sandy clothes; so basically nothing. She needed to get out of this funk fast. She couldn't bare it any longer. She needed help. Not just any help though, but good old fashioned girls help. The only problem was that she was short on that. The only two girls who were here probably never had a relationship. Daley was too oblivious to anything boys; poor Nathan. Melissa on the other hand did spend a lot of time with Nathan and Jackson. She might know what to do considering Melissa is a hopeless romantic.

Taylor smirked. She may have just solved her problem, at least for a now.

Nathan took a step into the opening of the plane. He turned to look back at Melissa who was sitting innocently at the fire. He turned back to the interior of the plane and peeked his head to look in.

* * *

"Daley," He shouted. "Are you still in here?"

Daley looked up from what appeared to be her inventorying. There were packages of food scattered around the plane. She appeared to be grouping the food into categories as some were already grouped together. She finished writing something down on her clipboard then looked up at Nathan.

"Hey," She greeted him with a quick smile.

"You're really going at this aren't you?" Nathan said, walking closer to her.

"Well I need to if I want to prove I'm leadership material,"

"I don't think that will be a problem for you," Daley looked up, obviously surprised at Nathan's words. "You've always been good at these things,"

"Was," Daley gave him a smirk. "I still am,"

"Right," Nathan said as he scratched the back of his neck.

This was the moment where he was supposed to give her the pills. Now it seemed suddenly hard seeing that she was busy and he didn't want to disturb her. He really had no choice though; he had to fight this nervousness. It was Daley, that girl who he wanted to crush in the election just weeks ago.

He took a deep breath and stepped forward. "I have something I need to give you,"

"I hope it isn't another problem,"

Nathan stared at her confused. What other problems has she had today besides him getting injured?

"What?"

Daley looked up at Nathan and saw his confused face. She must have realized that he wouldn't have gotten her joke considering they had only seen each other twice today.

"I'm sorry," She looked away in what Nathan realized was embarrassment. "Today has just been a problematic day,"

"Well this might make it easier on you," He said in a joking tone. He revealed the container of pills.

"Where did you get those?" Daley asked surprised taking the container of aspirin from his hands.

"I took them earlier before a rested," Nathan told her casually.

"Wow, I didn't even notice them missing," She told him while looking at the label on the container.

"Yeah, I needed them for my head,"

Daley looked up at him with an apologetic look. "Oh god Nathan, I'm so sorry I didn't realize," She shook her head in shame. "I feel terrible for not thinking that you could have injured your head,"

"How would you have known?" Nathan reassured her.

"I suppose your right, but I should have at least thought about it," Daley sighed and looked down at the container once more. "Thank you though, for returning this to me. I'm sure it made my job easier somehow,"

"Hey, I'm glad to help," They both smiled at each other.

Nathan turned to walk back to the exit of the plane now that his job was done. Daley unscrewed the lid of the container and poured a pill out onto her hand. She noticed that not many pills spilled out and checked inside. In fact, there were hardly any pills in the container either.

"Wait a second," Daley said out loud. Nathan stopped dead in his tracks. This didn't sound good.

Nathan turned back around to face her. Daley looked up at him from the pill bottle. Nathan gave her a look of worry and confusion.

"How many pills did you take?" She asked in an accusing voice.

"Only one," He took a few steps back towards her. "Why?"

"This container is almost empty,"

Daley began to rummage through the medical bag. Nathan stood there still and watched, worry coming over him upon realizing how he was going to continue to lie now at this point. Daley stopped and looked up at him with a worried look on her face that made Nathan realize that there was a problem.

"There is another bottle missing too," She ran her hand through her hair at her hairline and looked away in thought. "I don't remember Melissa taking that many pills last week,"

Nathan felt his whole body tense up at two realizations; Melissa had taken more then he thought and that Daley was about to find out that exact situation. He felt anger in himself, but the worry for his friend kept it low key. Daley's face lit up in realization. Nathan swallowed the lump in his throat. How could he think that he would get away with this? Daley looked at him and he suddenly had hard time breathing.

"You don't think Eric is behind this?" Daley asked him. Nathan relaxed at her words. "Didn't you say earlier that you were suspicious of him?"

Nathan tried to find words to keep his secret, but not put the blame on Eric also. "I did, but I don't think Eric has anything to do with this. I wouldn't jump to conclusions even with Eric's mischievous past,"

"You're right," Daley seemed to relax a bit. "But I do need to get to the bottom of this. If a shortage in pills managed to fly under my radar this easily, what else has?" Nathan went to speak, but was at a loss of words. "Thanks for bringing this to my attention,"

Nathan stood there awkwardly as he was prided in something he didn't even mean to do. There was nothing else to be said furthermore. All he knew is that he needed to get out of this air and find Melissa to talk to her. He left to go do just that.

* * *

Taylor walked back up to the camp and stopped when she noticed the emptiness of it. She expected Melissa to at least be sitting there like she usually was. She felt sad that she wasn't though; that meant she would actually have to go find her. So far there was no sign of Daley, Jackson or Eric which was good news for her.

She arrived at the camp and looked around at her surroundings. There was no sign of anyone. She could see a movement of a red bush inside the plane and knew that she wouldn't be going in there. She knew Jackson and Lex were on the other side of the plane working, unless they moved. Nathan, she didn't know where he was nor did she care. As for Eric, she hoped that he wasn't at the water hole.

She noticed the full jugs of water sitting next to the fire pit. That must have meant that Eric was on his break somewhere. So it must have been safe to go to the water hole. Perhaps that was where Melissa went. Taylor began to grin as she headed off to that location.

After walking for a far share of minutes, she arrived at the location to find Melissa standing there looking around. Melissa had yet to notice Taylor in her confused state. She could hear Melissa muttering something to herself. Taylor thought that maybe she may have come to the wrong person considering that Melissa talked to herself. That was until she heard Melissa mutter Eric's name. Just as Taylor was about to walk up to her, Melissa turned around and nearly jumped in shock.

"Taylor," Melissa scolded her.

"Sorry," Taylor said without feeling.

"Its fine," Melissa told her, oblivious to Taylor's fake apology. "Hey, do you know where Eric is,"

_No, I'm avoiding him._ Taylor thought.

"Nope," Taylor took a step to Melissa with a smile, causing a creepy look to come on Melissa's face. "But listen, I have a problem I need to talk to you about,"

"I'm sure somebody else could help you with it," Melissa says and begins to walk past Taylor.

Taylor stepped to the side to block Melissa. "This is a girl problem,"

"Well I'm sure Daley could be of better help," Melissa once again tried to step past Taylor, but found that Taylor blocked her path again. "I need to get by,"

"Meow, somebody's cranky," Taylor joked.

"I'm not cranky," Melissa said annoyed. "Just busy,"

Taylor put her arm around Melissa's shoulders and steered her towards a group of boulders. "Well you can take a break for a little girl time,"

"Girl time," Melissa questioned confused.

"Yeah, it will be like old times,"

"We never talked while you were dating Nathan," Melissa reminded her. "And if we did, it was only because you were dating Nathan,"

"Well, were talking now aren't we?"

"Yeah, but only because you're forcing me to,"

"You just need a little push," Taylor's smile turned to a serious stare. "Now sit," Taylor pushed Melissa to sit down on one of the boulders. Taylor took as seat as well. "Here's the thing, you were my first choice to talk to about this," Taylor crossed her legs and placed her hands on her top knee. "I felt that Daley would be less then helpful considering, she is Daley, which means she is too busy to care and has never had a boyfriend," Taylor rolled her eyes at the last line.

"What makes you think I have?"

"A majority of your friends are guys," Taylor smiled sweetly.

"That isn't true," Melissa said offended.

"Oh really," Taylor's tone made it obvious she found it hard to believe. "I didn't see you volunteer to go with Abby and Jori. And, I know for a fact that you aren't a fan of Daley after she creamed Nathan in the election weeks ago," Melissa quietly muttered "that it was only ten votes more". "And it's obvious she is going to probably do the same to Jackson,"

Taylor didn't honestly believe that Daley could beat Jackson again, even if the others were there too. Daley was far too controlling for anybody to want to be bossed around. Even though she isn't leader, Daley still manages to act like she is leader.

"Do you actually believe that?" Melissa asked worried.

"No, but can you let me get to my point," Taylor said lacking her sweet tone.

"Sorry," Melissa said, her tone lacking any effort.

"Thanks," Taylor lied sweetly. "Lately, I have been wondering how you know you like someone and if you just know from the start,"

"Does Taylor like someone?" Melissa teased.

"No," Taylor replied in an annoyed manner.

"Then why do you want to know?" Melissa asked seriously this time.

"I've just been thinking a lot lately, considering there isn't that much to do on this stupid island,"

"Any particular reason for why you choose that topic?"

"I've just…you know," Taylor paused to think of a lie. "Noticed how Daley and Nathan have been acting and was curious if they liked each other considering they used to hate each other,"

If Melissa noticed Taylor's hesitation to think of a lie, she ignored it as she had to think of a lie now too.

"I can speak for Nathan by saying that he doesn't like Daley like that," Melissa gave her a sincere smile.

"Are you sure, because it seems obvious that there is something between them,"

"Oh yeah, and how would you know?" Melissa tried to make Taylor feel stupid to hid her fear of the truth coming out.

"Some things are just obvious," Taylor grinned at Melissa. "Like your crush on Jackson,"

Melissa felt the colour drain from her face and her heart thump fast. "I don't like him like that any more," Melissa said awkwardly. Taylor stared at her in disbelief. "I just have a lot of respect for him,"

"You don't have to lie to me,"

"I'm honestly not lying Taylor," Melissa said sincerely.

"Come on!" Taylor over exaggerated. "You spend so much time with him," Taylor rolled her eyes.

Melissa shrugged. "I just got over him,"

"Whatever you say," Taylor said, obviously not convinced.

"Didn't you need some advice?" Melissa asked in a threatening tone.

"Yeah," Taylor laughed. "But this is much more fun,"

"Taylor," Melissa said annoyed.

Taylor sighed. "Fine," She then brought her focus back to her problem at hand. "Back when you," Taylor did air quotes. "Liked Jackson, did you know from the start?"

"Yeah," Melissa said shyly with a nod.

"So, how did it happen?" Taylor asked persistently.

"You were there when it happened," Melissa reminded her.

"Was I?" Taylor tried to think about it, but it came up blank. "Well I forget, so why don't you refresh my memory,"

Melissa took in a deep breath; about to explain what seemed would be a long story.

"It was during the time of the school election. You, me and Nathan were sitting at lunch discussing how Nathan was going to beat Daley…"

"Can you, like skip all the boring parts and get to the moment?" Taylor interrupted.

Melissa sighed in frustration. "The moment was the next part,"

"Oh," Taylor said stupidly. "Continue,"

"So we were all sitting there, and like usual you excluded me from yours and Nathan's conversation…"

"But you just said that all of us were talking,"

"Yes," Melissa explained slowly. "Before you excluded me,"

"But you said…"

"Taylor," Melissa said annoyed.

"Sorry,"

"So I had nothing really to do but sit there as a third wheel. Instead I decided to look around for someone to go talk to. That's when I seen him," Taylor gasped in surprise causing Melissa to roll her eyes. "He was following an older man in a business suit on the catwalk. I just remember the way the sun shined on him; I couldn't say anything except "Oh wow". Then you and Nathan looked up at him too. He noticed us staring at him, so I looked away in embarrassment. The only thing I truly remembered was that, he wasn't staring at all of us, but rather me," Melissa said in a quiet trance.

Taylor rolled her eyes. "But how did it make you feel?"

"Like," Melissa tried to find the words. She looked at Taylor who seemed on edge. "I needed to know him," Melissa looked away again, obviously remembering the moment.

Taylor watched her, feeling slight envy for Melissa having a moment like that with a guy. She couldn't remember herself ever feeling that way for anybody. Not even earlier when Jackson ran up to her, the feeling was much different then the one Melissa explained. She needed to know what the feeling was before she continued whatever she had with Eric.

"Are you sure you don't still like Jackson,"

Melissa smiled. "Yeah," she said sadly.

"Oh, okay," Taylor said without any emotion.

Both girls sat staring off into space, obviously lost in their thoughts and feelings. Melissa suddenly turned to Taylor smirking. Taylor looked over, slightly creeped out.

"What," Taylor asked annoyed.

"Does this have anything to do with Eric?" Melissa asked suspicious.

"Eric," Taylor asked in surprise. "Eric, as in Eric McGorrill, the goofy-fedora wearing- scheming rat?"

Melissa sat in silence as she tried to digest everything that Taylor just said.

"Uh…yeah?" Melissa questioned.

"Not even," Taylor said, clearly disgusted.

"That was a little harsh Taylor. I mean, Eric isn't exactly a gentleman, but he isn't the worst out there,"

Taylor sighed. "Maybe your right, but he's still Eric,"

"Yeah, and you're still Taylor,"

"Hey!" Taylor yelled offended. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that other people do have feelings Taylor. And maybe you should stop to think about how other people feel before you only think about how you feel. And only _you_ can decide how you feel," Melissa added emphasis on the word you.

"You're free to leave now," Taylor told her, barely giving her a glance.

Melissa shook her head in disbelief and got to her feet. Melissa looked down at Taylor who was still staring off.

"I'm serious about what I said," Melissa gave her one last stare before walking off to go back to the camp.

Taylor couldn't exactly understand everything that Melissa told her, but she felt as if Melissa helped her solve her problem some how.

* * *

"There's always coconut vinegar," Lex suggested, looking up at the older boy.

"Yeah," Jackson said unsure. "But how would we extract the vinegar from the coconut?"

Both boys had been playing idea tennis for an hour now, but neither could come to an agreement on how to go about getting vinegar. Lex felt like this was becoming a useless venture more and more as he read through the books. There had to be a way to get vinegar to dye the shirt. He could only hope that Daley found something in the luggage.

"Maybe we should talk about going out to get the plant for the dye," Lex suggested.

"Good plan," Jackson said. Jackson cleared his throat as he got ready to give his piece.

Eric came around the plane and spotted the two sitting at a table in conversation. Eric held his hat in both of his hands close to his stomach. He tried not to think too hard about what he was going to do and instead put a serious face on. Lex seemed to notice him and smacked Jackson in the arm to get his attention. Jackson looked over, his smile faltering. Eric moved his bangs off his forehead then approached them.

"Hey chief, boy genius," Eric greeted them gaining an eye roll from Jackson.

"What do you want Eric?" Jackson asked in an annoyed tone.

"I need to talk to you about something,"

"Alright, but just so you know, me and Lex are in the middle of something important right now. So what ever it is you need to say to me, you have to say in front of him,"

"Fine," Eric agreed reluctantly. He sighed feeling as if this was going to be harder now then if it was just him and Jackson. "I wanted to apologize,"

Both Jackson and Lex seemed taken back by Eric's apology; as if it was a rare event.

Jackson crossed his arms. "For what?"

"Remember when the trip money when missing?" Eric barely got out.

"How could I forget?" Jackson looked at Lex. "Lex and I spent our time dumpster diving through garbage bags for it,"

"Yes," Eric swallowed air in his throat. "Well before that, I sent a note telling him to check your locker," Eric then clenched up, waiting for the hit to come.

"Eric, what are you doing?" Jackson asked.

"Waiting for you to punch me,"

Jackson sighed and looked at the ground. "I'm not going to hit you,"

Eric slowly unclenched. "Oh," He put his hat back on, knowing that it was a little bit safer.

"So, you're the anonymous tip that slipped the lie under his door?"

"I just said I did,"

"Why?" Lex asked. Jackson raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

"Well," Eric hesitated. "Because you scared me. I mean, you walked around school all menacing, giving people stare downs. I figured that if any one would have taken the money, it would have been you,"

"What," Jackson scrunched his face up in anger. "Because I live in a bad part of town and I don't dress as fancy as you do? Eric," Jackson's voice dropped, as if there was a feeling of sadness beneath the surface at the moment. "I don't really have the best life, so can you blame me for not smiling all the time or wanting to make friends with people who might judge me at any moment?"

"I suppose not," Eric said with guilt.

"Look, I'm not as angry as I might have been if you told me before all of this. I appreciate your honesty, but the truth is that you really need to think about your decisions before you act. Because the next time you make a wrong move, you could end up hurting more then yourself,"

Eric felt as if there was a double meaning in Jackson's words.

"What happened to that guy that the cops think you stabbed?"

"He's fine," Eric looked down and nodded. "Anything else?"

"No," Eric shook his head.

"Good, now don't you have a job to do?"

Eric nodded and walked away. Once he was gone Jackson sighed as if a weight had been lifted. He looked at Lex who stared at him as if he had something to ask.

"What?" Jackson asked, a slight smile coming on his face.

"What colour was the paper he used?"

Jackson looked away in thought then looked back at the boy remembering.

"Pink,"

Both smiled at each other at the thought that the only paper Eric could find to use was a girly colour.

* * *

Nathan decided to make his way back to the camp after he couldn't find Melissa anywhere else. He needed to tell her about his conversation with Daley before Daley ended up having the same conversation with her. He was worried about Melissa even though he was angry at her for hiding the truth from him. He needed to know if she truly was the one behind the other container of missing pills.

Nathan noticed Melissa walking back from where the well was looking uncomfortable; he assumed it was due to a run in with Eric. She appeared to not have noticed him yet and continued to her usual spot by the fire.

"Hey, Mel," Nathan yelled.

Melissa stopped and turned to look in his direction. Before Nathan could come to her, she was already on her way over. Nathan noticed that her entire mood changed from uncomfortable to what appeared to be angry.

"Have you seen Eric?" She asked him with much concern.

"No, I thought that's who you were coming from,"

Melissa looked away peeved. "As if, Taylor came to bother me about some irrelevant story of hers which left me sidetracked for a good ten minutes,"

"Well I'm sure Eric is somewhere kicking it back like usual,"

"Yeah," Melissa said sarcastically before sighing in frustration.

"Listen, I really need to talk to you,"

"You're not the first to say that," Nathan couldn't tell if she was being playful or sarcastic. Nathan made the decision that he didn't want to know and instead ignored her comment.

"So," Nathan wasn't sure how to tell her this in the mood she was in, but decided to just explicit about it. "Daley knows,"

"Daley knows what?" Nathan tried to hide his frustration towards his best friend.

"About the pills. She noticed the shortage,"

"You told her?" Melissa asked offended.

"Did I say that?" Nathan tried to remain calm. "Luckily she doesn't know who took them so your not out in the clearing yet. But I need to ask you something and I need you to be honest with me about it,"

"Okay,"

"What do you know about the missing bottle? Did you take it?"

Just when Melissa opened her mouth to answer, she closed it. Her anger seemed to return at once and Nathan began to curse the day that Eric was ever born.

"Hey, just the two people I was looking for," Eric's happy voice sounded from behind Nathan.

Melissa rushed past Nathan to Eric which in turn made Nathan turn to catch up with her. He didn't like the way Melissa was handling anything right now and was afraid for Eric's sake for once.

"Where have you been?" Melissa asked forcefully.

"Talking to Jackson," Eric told her as he pointed behind him to the direction he just came from.

"Eric, you can't just stop doing your job in the middle of doing your job," Melissa told him in a high pitched voice.

"I left you two full jugs though,"

"Two full jugs is only enough for three people,"

Nathan tried to feel sorry for the guy, and a part of him did, but he was glad that Melissa was finally letting her anger out on the right person instead of him. But as much fun as it was to relinquish in Eric's pain, Nathan needed to save the guy.

"Wait, why were you looking for us two?"

Eric's eyes told Nathan that he was thankful for him steeping in while Melissa appeared to still be fuming, but slightly calmer.

"Well, it's a good thing you brought it up. I have this mental list of what I like to refer to as my list of past mistakes,"

"This can't be good," Nathan whispered to Melissa, who if she heard him did a good job of pretending she didn't.

"What is this list of past mistakes?" Melissa asked.

"Well, I decided to give back to my fellow survivians-that's you guys-by thinking up everything thing bad I did to all of you and apologizing for it" Nathan was right, this was bad. "So, who's first," Eric asked with a smile.

Nathan took a step toward him. "Let's have it,"

"Alright, I would like to personally extend my apologizes to you, Nathan McHugh, for making you believe that I could help you beat Daley in the election,"

Nathan waited for him to go on, but realized he was done when Eric stared at him waiting while Melissa tried to hold in a laugh.

"That's it?" Nathan asked,

"Yeah," Eric said, acting as if Nathan was awkward for asking.

"So let me get this straight, you're apologizing to me because you didn't live up to your word and therefore let Daley beat me in front of the entire student body?"

"No, I'm apologizing for not getting humiliated with you,"

Oh, now Nathan was not amused in the slightest.

"Is there anything else?"

"I'm also sorry I didn't vote for you when we crashed here too,"

Melissa, noticing Nathan's attitude change, spoke up. "What about me?"

"Yes, let's hear your apology to Mel," Nathan tested.

"Alright," He turned to face Melissa and a serious look came on his face. "I apologize for playing the video of you admitting you like chief,"

Melissa rolled her eyes as if she expected it. "I will forgive you because you are making an effort as long as you never do it again,"

"Done," Eric told her as if it was so easy.

"Really?" Nathan asked bewildered. "You give her a proper apology," He turned to Melissa. "And you just give him a slap on the wrist,"

"If Eric is making a serious effort to right his mistakes, then I will try my best to support them," Eric nodded in agreement.

"You are so naïve if you are going to seriously stand here and believe that he has been saved now. He might be apologizing today, but whose to say that he won't go back to being a rat tomorrow?"

"I'm still standing here, you do realize that?" Eric reminded Nathan.

"And I still don't trust you," Nathan said before turning and walking away.

Melissa watched him go, feeling guilt ridden. She wanted to yell for him to come back; even run to catch up with him, but figured that he probably needed to cool off.

"Did his rash return or something?" Eric asked.

Melissa smacked him in the chest for his rude snared comment. Nathan was right, Eric was still a rat.

"Let me remind you that he did hit his head in the jungle earlier today. He's probably trying to adjust to his environment and you aren't helping by making him angry,"

"You know, I heard about this one guy who hit his head as easily as our buddy Nathan did. And you know what happened to him, he got seriously messed up from it. They had to send him to the loony bin,"

"You don't think that type of thing will happen to Nathan do you?" Melissa asked concerned.

"Well, all I know is that if he starts making things up, then we might need to tie him to a tree and feed him animal bones,"

Melissa made a disgusted face. "Now you're just being ridiculous,"

"Believe what you want, but Nathan might end up like Phillip,"

"Who's Phillip?" Melissa asked confused.

"The guy now in the mental hospital," He gave her an amused smirk and walked away.

* * *

Taylor sat back in the girl's tent as she tried to relax to get her mind off of her problems. What was better then getting your mind of things then reading a good old magazine. There might not have been anything about island beauty, but there were a few good quizzes as well as pictures of cute celebrities. She just needed to stare at a few ultra beauty gods and then all of her thoughts about bad boy Eminem will be over with in a matter of seconds. Then she can go back to Eric and pretend as if she was just acting moody due to cramps from bad fruit. He would believe her and demand to let him care for her the rest of the next few days. It was a win-win situation for both of them; no flaws whatsoever.

She flipped to a pullout poster of Zac Efron that made her forget that there ever was a boy called Jackson…Jackson…Jackson Jackson? What was that boy's first name? It couldn't possibly be the same name twice right? Maybe he was one of those boys's who used their last name as their first. That seemed to make a plenty more sense.

And she was still thinking about him again. She needed to think of Zac Efron; Zac Efron shirtless…shirtless in a rain forest. What were the possibilities that Zac Efron vacationed here? She could only wish.

Taylor flipped through page after page. Celebrity hairstyles. Nail polish ad. Who are the Jonas Brothers? Fall styles…wait what about summer styles?

She shook her head.

Ou, quizzes! Who is the right guy for you?

Question 1: You're friend sets you up on a blind date, do you go?

Yes, personality is where it's at!

No, I have to see him first before I decide.

Taylor was a B type of girl. She looked at the rest of the questions. They were all so stupid, but maybe they could help her solve her problem. She read the next question and it's options and picked the next best one. She continued until she got to the last question.

Question 7: Who is your favourite type of friend?

Silly and loves to prank

The sports star

The quiet artist

The book smart worm

Taylor stared at the question and turned her head to the side. How could she answer this question correctly? She didn't really have any friends now that she thought about it. She didn't want to lie, because she felt if she did then it might jeopardize the results. Daley and Nathan weren't exactly friendship material and she didn't talk to Lex much. There was always Melissa.

_We never talked while you were dating Nathan. And if we did, it was only because you were dating Nathan._

She felt like she should have been worrying about making friends rather then trying to fix her boy problems. Every friend she had she dated and broke up with at some point. She was never good at keeping them. But Eric was sort of her friend right? Maybe she could use him as a reference despite the fact that he is a valid candidate in this quiz. She had no choice.

She choose A.

She tallied up her answers and looked for the answer that was best based off her results.

The strong and sensitive type.

Taylor felt a sudden sadness inside her even though she technically got the answer she wanted. But it didn't feel right. She didn't like to follow her conscious on a daily basis, but could this be the one time she actually followed it? She was once again stopped at a fork in the road.

She thought about it and figured out what she must do.

* * *

Daley wrote down the final number for boxes of bandages on her list and let out a deep breath. She was finally done. Now she just needed to put everything back into their organized location and take a long relaxing deserved break. She felt so dead at the moment so she was defiantly in need of it.

She put her checklist aside and grabbed an empty box to put the food supplies back in. She moved it in front of her, but stopped when she heard something shaking inside. She peered in and noticed a tint plastic bag sitting in the corner. She cursed herself for not noticing it earlier. From the looks of it, it probably won't take her long to inventory the item then she will be done.

She reached inside to grab the bag and pulled it up to look at it. It was filled with tiny squishy white packages that she normally sees in the cafeteria at her school or at fast food restaurants. The type of packages that normally hold ketchup and mustard and relish and…

Vinegar.

She looked at the little packages and saw the title of the condiment written in little black block letters. Amazing little black block letters. The best she had seen in weeks. If they could use all the little packages, then they might be able to dye her shirt. This would save them the time of having to find a new type of vinegar to use, especially when they know nothing about vinegars.

She pulled the packages out of her hands and stared at them in amazement. She couldn't believe their chances of all things. It's almost like they just appeared out of nowhere. Where ever they came from or whoever brought them on the plane is a saviour. She realized that she needed to tell Lex and Jackson about this so they can stop looking through the book for a vinegar solution and instead look for a dye.

Heck, they could wait a little be longer. She grinned before throwing the packages up in the air and watching them rain down.

* * *

"So before we even think about going out into the jungle to look for a specific plant, we need to decide what colour were looking for," Lex explained.

"Well do you think we should ask Daley what colour she wants?"

"Normally I would say that it is more fair to do that, but considering Daley's attitude, I just know she won't be able to decide on a colour. We may as well pick one for her that isn't pink,"

"Alright, well what colours normally look good on her?"

Lex stared at Jackson confused. It took Jackson a matter of five seconds to realize that the younger boy had no clue. Jackson felt stupid for asking a ten year old boy a girly question about his step sister.

"Well she has red hair and blue eyes. So maybe we could match her colour to one of those,"

"Defiantly not red; the shirt would clash with her hair too much,"

"So blue then?" Jackson asked.

"I see no problems,"

Both smiled at each other and high fived.

"So now we just need to decide who will be going on this long hike," Jackson said.

"If it's okay with you, I would like to volunteer,"

Jackson wasn't too sure if it was a good idea to send a young boy into the middle of the unknown jungle. He would need to bring somebody with him who would be able to take care of him. Who better then himself?

"I want to go with you then, to make sure nothing bad happens,"

"Don't you have to beat Daley?"

"Helping find the dye for the shirt will show that I can put my differences aside for good. Besides, I'm not the type of person that likes planning ways to make my opponent look bad or me look great. I believe that being myself is more effective,"

Lex nodded in approval. "Spoken like a true leader,"

"Don't let Daley hear you saying that," Jackson joked.

Jackson noticed Taylor walking by in her bikini top and short shorts carrying her towel. He figured this would be the best moment to give her the reasons why she should vote for him. In between planning with Lex, he had been working on what to tell her.

"Hey, can you give me a minute?" Jackson asked. Lex too noticed Taylor, but seemed not phased by it. He instead nodded.

Jackson hurried up to catch up with the blonde girl who had made her way up the beach more in the time it took Jackson to realize he needed to speak with her.

"Hey, Taylor,"

The young girl turned around to face him, her expression changing instantly from what appeared to be a sense of nervousness to happiness. She gave him a small smile.

"Do you remember that conversation we had earlier?"

Taylor had a hard time forgetting it. This could possibly be the worst moment for Jackson to decide that he wanted to speak with her. The only real problem was that, she actually forgot what they talked about during the conversation, all she remembered was that the conversation didn't go so well with her.

Taylor nodded her head, feeling that if she spoke, words might not come out.

"Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking the whole day and I think I may have a good reason for why you should vote for me,"

So that's what they talked about, how Jackson needed to prove his leadership. She only told him that so that he would leave her. She didn't actually mean that he was a crap leader.

"Oh, you don't have to give me a reason," Taylor shrugged it off.

"No, I want to tell you. I need to prove it to myself," Ego issues much! "See, I spent a lot of time thinking about what Daley was doing wrong when I should have been thinking about what I was doing right. You see, Daley likes to act like she knows what she is doing whether she does or not. I personally believe that you shouldn't think about how it should be done and rather how you should do it. We can't all follow one way of thinking with seven different minds. As a leader, I try to let you guys solve your own problems how you would, rather then you guys coming to me to solve it"

Taylor didn't know what to say, considering she didn't even know what he was talking about. She regretted not paying attention as well in their conversation earlier. A look of worry came on Jackson's face.

"You don't like it do you?"

"It's not that, I just don't think you have to prove anything to me, which is why your good for being leader; you don't have anything to prove,"

"So I'm like a minority in a way,"

Taylor had no idea what he meant.

"Sure," Taylor lied.

"Alright good, so with that out of the way, I should probably get back to what I was doing,"

She couldn't put this off for as long as they were here. If she had to face him every day, she didn't want to do it like this. It was now, or awkwardness.

Jackson turned to leave, but Taylor caught his arm. "Jackson,"

He turned to look at her.

"I need to talk to you about something,"

He faced her with his full attention and crossed arms.

"Alright,"

"I need to talk to you about, theses feelings I've been having," Taylor said nervously.

"What kind of feelings?"

"That's the problem, I don't know,"

Daley ran around the plane to where she last seen Jackson and Lex. She carried the bag of vinegar packages in her hand, trying to keep them from spilling all over the sand. She spotted Lex and ran up to him

"Lex," She yelled. "I found the vinegar,"

Lex seemed too distracted by watching the other two down the beach. Daley too looked to where he was looking as confusion came on her face. "What's going on down there?"

"Well is it like a sickness. I just don't understand what you mean?"

"I mean, like I don't know what it is," Taylor shouted. "It just sort of happened okay. One moment I was sitting there, tanning like I normally do, and then you just came running up like some guy from an eighties television show and suddenly everything just went to crap. This whole day I've been feeling like I couldn't do anything unless I figured out what this feeling was. I started getting all this little bumps on my skin that I have never had before. I honestly think that there might be something wrong with me. I mean come on, I bathe as much as I can and I'm probably the cleanest person here, so how is it that I got this weird tropical sickness? Huh? It's not natural. Oh, and if that isn't enough, I'm sweating ten times more then I normally do which is so ick. Yeah and my heart is beating like there is a party or rave going on in my chest. You want to prove to me that your what it takes to be leader, diagnosis me; I'm all ears," Taylor spread her arms out like a bird.

Jackson started laughing which made Taylor look at him not amused.

"What? You think it's funny to feel like this?"

"No, It's just sort of funny that you think of it as a disease,"

"Oh, so it's worse then that then,"

"No, Taylor I think you may be developing feelings for someone,"

"Well I know that, but that doesn't explain the body issues,"

Jackson sighed. "Taylor, people tend to get wrapped up in this idea of love and lust which makes them react differently then they normally do. You put too much thought into your feelings and so your body has to process all this which means your body has to work harder. That would explain your heart beating more then usual and the goose bumps and sweating. Shouldn't you know this, you seem like the type to watch a lot of romantic movies,"

"You think I'm in love with someone?"

"Not in love, but you are defiantly putting a lot of thought into a particular someone,"

Jackson noticed how conflicted Taylor was at the moment and felt bad for her. She seemed like the type of girl who only dated guys for a short period and then dumped them. She probably never actually fell for somebody with actual feelings involved.

"Listen, Taylor," Jackson reached out and placed his hand on her arm.

Eric tried to escape her best he could, but she just kept following him; hounding him with more and more questions. How did she not understand that he was joking about Phillip and the mental hospital?

"What if we happen to see another person? How will we know if they are real or not? They might be a hallucination and we might believe that they are help. I mean think of the possibilities of that happening. If it happened to Phillip from a head injury, it could happen to us if we got sick maybe. Not saying it will happen, but I know that sickness can make you do weird things. And I knowing your thinking, yeah like throw up, but I mean serious illness here Eric. Were stuck here for who knows how long; imagine one of us getting that sick,"

"Why are you still here?" He asked annoyed.

Eric turned to look forward again, but regretted it once he did. He came to a dead stop in the sand, causing poor Melissa to crash into him from behind.

"What the heck Eric," Melissa complained. "You could have at least warned me before…"

Melissa too saw what he saw and stopped in unease.

"What every you are feeling right now, its only going to continue to stay there as long as you continue to think about it,"

"So your saying that if I stop thinking about it, then it will go away," Taylor began to smile in understanding.

"Yes,"

Taylor tried to think about other things and push that feeling away. She was suddenly surprised on how easy it was to get rid of it.

"Feel better?" Jackson asked.

Taylor gave him a huge smile and pulled him into a hug.

"Eric," Melissa shouted.

Taylor pulled away from Jackson and both looked over to where Melissa was standing watching Eric walk away. He defiantly look pissed off which made Taylor feel guilty. She had been so focused on her feelings that she hadn't been thinking about the fact that she had been neglecting Eric the entire time.

Taylor ran over to try and catch up with him but found she wouldn't be able to and instead stopped when she got to Melissa. Melissa looked at Taylor hurt.

"What are you doing?"

"I was just trying to take your advice," Taylor told her.

"Wait, the person you like is Jackson?" Melissa asked upset.

Taylor noticed the sadness in Melissa's question. "I thought you said you didn't like him,"

"Did you honestly think that I would tell you of all people who I like? Especially after last time?"

"I didn't expect you to tell me anything. I came to you about my feelings not yours,"

"Well I can see why you asked, because you wanted to know if you were in the clearing to go for Jackson,"

"I don't like Jackson, I thought I might have, but it was just silly feelings,"

Melissa seemed to understand what Taylor was talking about and calmed down a bit.

"Well next time, instead of worrying about your silly feelings, you should think about the other people involved like I told you,"

"Wait, when did you tell me this?"

"Earlier," Melissa snapped. "Look, I don't know what is going on between you and Eric, but I think he might actually like you. Not like that stupid crush we all thought he had. I think you should go talk to him,"

Taylor nodded thinking about how Melissa could not be any true. She began to walk past Melissa but stopped and smiled at her. Then she was gone.

Jackson walked up to Melissa with his hands in his pockets. Melissa looked at him with a questioning look.

"What?"

"I think you may have just lost a vote,"

"You mean Eric?" Jackson shrugged. "I'm not that worried about him right now,"

"Well your going to have to prove to him some how that your sorry,"

"I don't need to prove anything to him or anybody. I expect everybody to vote for who they believe is right. I don't plan to go around and try to impress; that's not my style,"

Melissa smiled at him, thinking that this was one of those times that she knew why she respected Jackson so much. That was one thing she didn't lie to Taylor about.

"Good to know,"

They both stood and watched as the sun went down on the water line.

"Besides, Taylor isn't my type,"

Melissa felt a sense of ease at his words.

"Then what is?" Melissa asked nervously.

"Hey, guys," They both looked to see Daley waving to them. "I found the vinegar," Lex stood next to her with his hand covering his face in shame.

Both Melissa and Jackson smiled at each other. Melissa was just glad that it wasn't Daley that liked Jackson.

* * *

Taylor found Eric down the beach a little ways from the camp. He was staring out at the sun, thinking from the looks of it. Taylor was afraid of what he was thinking about. Probably thoughts about how the girl of his dreams isn't what he made her out to be. Taylor never planned to make Eric feel this way, she knew the consequences of kissing him that one day. Now she has to face them.

As she got closer, Eric seemed to be more aware of her being there. She stopped and stood next to him causing him to look up at her. He didn't say a word and looked away. Taylor couldn't make the decision on whether she should sit or stand. She choose to stand until the conversation became less hostile.

Eric laughed a masochistic laugh as he shook his head. "I should have known that you don't go for guys like me. I'm the kind that you avoided at school because I wasn't on a sports team or the head of a club. I was a ghost to you. I spent my days watching you in class and thinking of ways to break you and hotshot Nathan up. I know that seems creepy, but to me it was the only chance I had,"

"Eric,"

"Listen, I understand that you have a type and you know what, I don't. I usually hit on any girl that will show me the time of day because that is all I can get. Then one day in gym class, I suddenly see you in a new light. Your not that pretty rich snobby girl that ignores me in class, your this girl that I suddenly needed to know.

_"But how did it make you feel?"_

_"Like, I needed to know him,"_

Taylor sat down next to him, realizing what Melissa meant.

"When I found out that you broke up with Nathan and you were still going on this trip, I knew this was it; this was my chance to make you notice me. Yeah I may have let you use me to get your attention, but hey, what's a guy got to do right?"

"Eric," Taylor cleared her throat. "I had a sweaty gym moment,"

"About Jackson?"

Taylor nodded. "I didn't know why it happened or what it meant, but I think it helped me understand what you meant when you told me about it,"

"Yeah, but yours was about another guy,"

"So, it doesn't mean I want to get to know him," Eric sighed. "I want to get to know you,"

Eric immediately turned to look at Taylor surprised as soon as she said it. She gave him a smile.

"Are you serious this time? I mean, you didn't have any sweaty gym moments about me,"

"I don't need to you goof. This is a new thing I'm starting on how to date somebody. If anybody tries to steal it, you tell them it's copyright Taylor Hagan," Taylor and Eric burst out laughing.

"And I'm the goof?" Eric joked.

"Hey, who's the one that spent their class time staring at me?"

"You tell anyone that and I will come after you," He pointed to her.

"I think I might go tell Nathan about how you were planning to break us up and see what he has to say," She gave him a huge smirk.

"Run,"

Taylor quickly got to her feet and sprinted as fast as she could with Eric following behind her. Taylor was never really into the serious and sensitive guys anyway.

* * *

As the sun was going down, all of the survivors sat down to eat dinner, with the exception of Nathan who was absent. Everybody seemed to be in a good mood even after the long day they had. Daley had gotten around to putting everything away, after a whole days work which she believed was well worth it even if the others had their doubts. Lex and Jackson appeared to be in a deep conversation about something. Everything seemed actually alright for once.

"Where's Nathan?" Melissa asked.

Everybody looked around, finally noticing his absence.

"I'm sure he will be coming along shortly," Daley told them nonchalantly. "So Lex, you said you wanted to make an announcement,"

Lex looked as if he didn't like being put on the spot, especially in the middle of his conversation with Jackson.

Lex cleared his throat. "I'm sure we are all aware of how Eric accidently dyed Daley's shirt pink," All eyes were on Eric who innocently drank his water. "Well after hours of reading, I have finally managed to find a solution that will dye Daley's shirt whatever colour we want. The only problem is that we need to go into the jungle to locate the plant necessary for the dye. Me and Jackson decided on the colour blue and I talked it over with Daley who agreed to the colour. Tomorrow, Jackson and I will be going out into the jungle to…"

"Oh, no you won't," Daley interrupted.

"No I won't what?"

"You're not going out into the jungle with Jackson,"

Jackson rolled his eyes.

"Why not?" Lex asked.

"Because I think I have more of a right to go with you then he does, and I don't trust him,"

"What do you possibly think I'm going to do Daley?" Jackson asked.

"I'm not sure, but you have been more then helpful about the shirt dye,"

"That's because I'm supposed to be helpful as the leader.,"

"Oh, so now your finally taking the initiative to actual act like a leader,"

"Fine, if it is such a problem for you Daley, I won't go tomorrow," Lex gave Daley a dirty look who shrugged it off. "Who would like to volunteer to go in my place with Lex tomorrow?"

Eric immediately shot his hand up. "Anything to spend a day away from Daley,"

Daley rolled her eyes at his comment. "I'm not letting my brother go off with Eric,"

Taylor raised her hand. "I'll go with them,"

Jackson clapped his hands. "There you go, Taylor will look out for Lex; problem solved," Jackson got to his feet. "I'm going to go for a walk,"

Daley began to chase after Jackson. "Uh problem not solved. You can not send my brother out into the jungle with Eric and Taylor. How do you think they will protect him when neither of them can hold their own weight? Jackson,"

Daley's voice died out as the two disappeared down the dark beach.

Everybody suddenly burst out laughing.

"Those two should have their own show," Taylor admitted.

"I hate to disrupt a good time, but seriously where is Nathan?" Melissa asked with much concern.

Everybody looked at each other to see who knew, but no one did.

* * *

Nathan felt like he had been wandering for hours now. It was dark out and he regretted his decision to once more storm off into the jungle. Now he was lost with an injured head. He couldn't have felt more foolish then he already did. Who knows how far he was now? He didn't even bring a flash light, so for all he knew, he could have been on the other side of the island. He tried yelling a few times, but no one yelled back which worried him. If he strayed too far from camp, he would have to wait till morning to find his way back. He couldn't even figure out where the beach was from this point. He was officially lost and he had himself to thank for it.

He pushed past tree after tree and bush after bush. Every rock, every shrub, every palm tree began to look the same to him from what he could see. He was starving, tired and weak. His head hurt as much as if somebody dropped an anvil on it. He was also scared although he would never admit it.

He swore he heard somebody whispering at one point; his name. He thought he might have been going crazy, but he swore he heard it. As well he thought he heard beeping and clicking as well as other voices. But surely he imagined it because if there was someone, they would have showed themselves. Not to mention, he felt so alone at the moment.

_Snap_

He whipped around to face behind him. There was nobody there but the darkness.

"Hello?" He shouted. There was no sound by the wind rattling the tree palms. No ocean, no people, just dead air.

_Click_

There is was again; the clicking. He followed it to where he thought it was coming from.

_Snap_

The snapping again too. It was coming in the same direction. It didn't sound human, because any human or animal would have ran.

_Click_

_Snap_

He suddenly remembered hearing the same thing earlier when he was wandering through the jungle. The same not human like noise that haunted him in this creepy jungle. He tried to follow it with cautiousness, hoping that if it was a person, they wouldn't notice him. Perhaps it was somebody swinging something in the trees. He kept going at a normal pace until he got to what seemed like a familiar clearing. That's because it was; this was where he tripped earlier. He wouldn't forget it, considering he spent a lot of time trying to find his way back to the camp here.

_Click_

It was louder then ever this time. He followed the sound with his ear to a bush. From what he could see, there was nobody hiding in it, so it must be safe right? He got down on his knees to examine it. That's when he noticed it.

_Snap_

_Click_

There was a little propeller that seemed to be caught in a branch of the bush that kept snapping and clicking back and forth. It was human made and connected to a tiny wire that flowed down to what appeared to be a black pipe or plug. Nathan placed his hand on the black plug and ran his hand along it, side stepping as he did so. He stopped in the middle and looked up. This was where he tripped. Now it was all coming back to him. He remembered looking at something before he passed out; this must have been it. But what was a giant plug doing in the middle of the jungle? Also, what would happen if he fixed the snagged propeller in the bush? Now would be the perfect moment to find out.

He made his way back over to it and stopped. He moved the branch out of the way and watched as the little propeller began to spin fast. There came a groaning noise of what sounded like a machine coming to life. He looked around him, but couldn't see a sign of a machine.

He was suddenly blinded by an immense amount of light from above. He put his hand out in front of him to shield it from his eyes. He waited for them to adjust to the light before he tried to find where the light came from. He looked up to see a wall light perched on a nearby tree. From the sounds of it, the little propeller powered a generator somewhere near that powered that light. He kept thinking about how it was possible for there to be power on the island. Then he had his realization.

There must have been people that brought the electricity to the island, and if it is still working, then they must still be here.

The light suddenly flickered away and he was left in the darkness with his new realization. It gave him worse terror then he had felt the entire time.

* * *

**Next Time: **_When keeping a secret…_

_Taylor and Eric try to hide their relationship but fear that an expedition in the jungle could become a crowd when another survivor decides to come along. _

…_your biggest enemy…_

_Daley tries to win over votes for the election through an approach that could cause negative outcomes for Jackson._

…_could just be yourself._

_Melissa finds herself backtracking into a corner by lies and truth._

* * *

_AN: Sorry for the lateness of this chapter my good audience. I have been very busy with finishing my fifth year of school and preparing for college. I hope to finish this story by the end of the summer if I can, but it is unlikely with work. Even if I don't, I still plan to finish this story, but the updates might take longer between each one with my school load so please bare with me. I think it is amazing for those who have been so patient with this story and I can honestly say that I appreciate it so much! I will continue to write this for you guys as long as you read it. Well that is all I have to say for now. I have the next chapter planned and I just need to write the outline and then type up the actual thing. I hope to have it done by the end of this week, but if not then expect it by early next week. Stay tuned!_


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